Early update because of reasons.

Please enjoy!


When he woke up, Shinichi found himself in Kaito's room completely alone, in the middle of the bed, on his pillow, covered with two very warm blankets. Judging by the way sunrays filled the room and the simple fact that Kaito was nowhere in sight, it was still morning, a bit after 7 a.m. – the thief was willing to leave him alone for only three things – school, heists and preparations, and the mysterious call of the neighbour every morning and evening for breakfast and dinner. The first two were out – it was Sunday, no school, and even if he sent a notice and actually managed to keep it a secret from Arthur, it was too early for anything. Breakfast it is, then, Shinichi thought.

He looked around, wondering about what to do, when he saw something interesting – one of the drawers of Kid's desk was pulled out. White sheets of paper were peeking out, some had clumsy, others had artistic handwriting on it, and there was the occasional flash of neon green, blue, pink and yellow, shorter and longer lines drawn with highlighters. Shinichi grinned. It was nothing much, but finally he had something he could look through, finally there was a chance he would find something.

He kicked the blankets off of himself, stood up, then marched to the edge of the bed, the one facing towards the desk. One last look at his still bandaged palm, and that was it. He half-jumped, half-climbed down – it went a lot better than expected. After a blink and a disbelieving look at the distance between the floor and the top of the bed he remembered the reason. He already did this once. That evening when Kid… when Kaito was… Don't think about that. Don't.

He hurried over to the desk, and set to climbing. The drawers weren't too big, the wood had odd little grooves, the edges were easy to hold onto… He could do this.

And indeed he could, even though he didn't feel alright while doing so, because his joints shifted oddly, his limbs were misplaced somehow, and his hand stung every time he moved upwards. Still he reached the opened drawer, second from the top, and stood on the edge. Once quick glance at the contents altogether was all he had time for, before he reached for the piece of paper in front of him. And he stopped short right there. The bandage on his hand, a dark blue ribbon thoroughly washed and disinfected, had dark, wet blotches on it. Shinichi swore under his breath, but choose to ignore it.

The first paper turned out to be useless – nothing more than messy math notes and distracted scribbles. Under that sat a disturbingly messed up biology text book, that, when Arthur opened it, revealed the scribbled over images of fish and a crying emoji. More papers, notes, documents, none of those important, and more importantly, not evidence, and Shinichi was getting impatient. He didn't have too much time left.

A slightly darker paper with ragged edges caught his attention. A blurry picture cut in half, and small, neatly printed rows of words next to it – scandal, the popular idol, Hoshino Rika, caught with a middle-aged- No. This wasn't it. What matters is… on the other side. Shinichi carefully flipped the paper, and then… A pair of blue eyes, barely hidden behind too big glasses stared back at him. He read through the article in a frenzy: Conan… missing… two weeks… if anyone saw…

People were looking for him… He disappeared without a single sign, he still couldn't contact anyone, of course they were looking for him! Ran, the professor, Shounen Tantei… and then there was… there was…

"What do you THINK you're doing, Shinichi?" He spun around, towards the door – there was no sound, how did he… - and lost his balance. He watched as the papers ruffled, as the drawer got farther from him, watched the ceiling, and he waited for hitting the floor, breaking his spine.

He landed on a warm, calloused palm with a yelp, apparently still alive. Fingers curled around him, imprisoning him. He looked up with a frightened gasp – Kid's gaze was dangerously empty. Considering how he always looked like his lips were permanently curled, this neutral expression looked more terrifying than any crazed look a murderer could give him.

"What am I supposed to do with you now, hm?" Kid asked, and tightened his fingers around him. His tone was just as neutral as his face, not even a hint of emotion, not even in his eyes. No glint of mischief – a version of the Poker Face Shinichi definitely never wanted to see. "Sniffing around, huh?" Despite his words, he didn't sound mocking at all. He just tightened his fingers again, adding slightly more pressure, while Shinichi felt the blood leave his face. "Were you looking for evidence?" He gulped under Kid's heavy stare. The fingers held him even stronger now, though never enough to hurt him, just to remind him that there was no way he could escape. It worked perfectly. "You want to prove to the police that I'm Kid, right?" He took in a shuddering breath, eyes never leaving Kid, not even for a second, because only God knows what might happen to him otherwise.

And then Kaito started giggling. Actually giggling, face going just a tiny bit pink, eyes shining, cheeks puffing up from his huge grin. That's it, he lost it. He's gonna kill me now.

"Hahaha, your face… y-your face… you should see it, hahaha..." His fingers loosened just a tiny bit, not quite letting him go, but at least letting him breathe, while his laughter echoed in the room. "And that look, oh… you went green for a second, Shinichi, oh gods, this is hilarious…"

Wait. Wait a minute.

"You called me…?"

"By your name, Shinichi." He smiled, giving him the most innocent look that was humanly possible, while he drew out every syllable. Kaito stood up after that, still holding him in his hand, and went straight to the bathroom. There he put him down right in front of the mirror. "I guess there's no use in hiding it. You'd find out sooner or later anyway."

And as he looked into the mirror, he saw Kudou Shinichi, with all his current 15 centimetres. He wasn't Conan. He wasn't Arthur.

"So you knew," he croaked out, and watched as Kid's smile got wider.

"I did."