Mikau: Hey all! It's been a while! But I guess that's a good thing considering that I write these when I have writer's block. Which I don't actually have, by the way. I was bored the other day and came across some word of the day prompts that someone…Kagami or something? ^.^; was doing for Poirot Café. I think you're supposed to pick one of the five words of the day and write a fic based on that, but I decided to take all five words and fit them into one story. For this one it's: dusk, thunder, massage, university, and fair. Thanks to all of my reviewers from last time: Assasin8, MeitanteiRose, Bunnyz-chan, GeekyGenius (times five), ForgetfulDaffodil, Guest, and Miss Emotion (times three)! I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: If I owned it, I'd have a lot of fun playing dress up with Kaito. (Insert evil smile.) I've always loved stylish guys' clothes, but I've never had a boyfriend to dress up, and my brother could care less about looking good, so I think I'd play dress up with Kaito.

…

Patience is a Virtue

When Shinichi finally bothered to look up from his well-worn copy of Edogawa Ranpo's The Golden Mask, it was already dusk, and his coffee had long gone cold.

With a sigh, he shut the book and set it down on the side table next to him. He hadn't left the house all day. Maybe he should go on a walk or something?

The low rumble of thunder in the distance quashed that idea.

Shinichi yawned as he stood up to stretch. He was stiff from sitting hunched up in the same position for the past half-dozen hours. How had he not noticed how uncomfortable it was sitting that way? Ah. Right. Book. He'd always had the bad habit of becoming totally engrossed in things, particularly when they involved a good mystery.

He looked at the clock and sighed again. Maybe he should get something to eat?

His stomach grumbled in agreement, echoing another peal of thunder still quite a ways away by the sound of it but close enough to be audible.

He shuffled his way into the kitchen and grimaced when he found his fridge all but bare. He began to massage his temples and rub at the bridge of his nose. He'd meant to pick up some groceries today, but…book. Yeah.

He'd taken care of himself just fine since middle school, living on his own while his parents traipsed across the globe. And two years of living with Ran as Conan, getting pampered with home-cooked meals and not having to do his own grocery shopping, had absolutely ruined him.

Shinichi checked the cabinet and found…cup ramen. Well, he was a university student now (Finally!); he may as well eat like one.

Part of him wondered how Sera was doing. Was she enjoying Ran's cooking? Did she make Ran laugh? Had she confessed to Ran yet? Probably so. They'd been rooming together for a couple months now. If Ran hadn't noticed that something was up and forced a confession out of Sera yet, Shinichi would eat Sera's obnoxious fedora with nattou and sardines.

Shinichi slammed his head against the wall, taking masochistic pleasure in the thunk, thunk, thunk sound it made. It wasn't fair, I tell you. It wasn't fair. And yet…wasn't it his own fault for all the lies and broken promises? Yeah, sort of.

"Shin-chan? If you're trying to knock down that wall, I think a sledgehammer would work better than your forehead," Kaito called softly from the doorway.

Shinichi blinked, looking up at the magician in surprise. "Kuroba…uh…how long have you been standing there?"

"You know. Long enough." Kaito bit his lip. "So…uh…do you know what today is?"

"Friday?"

Kaito resisted the urge to bang his own head against the wall. "I meant the date."

Shinichi shrugged. "Um…some day in February, right?"

"Yeah. The fourteenth," Kaito informed with a sigh.

"Oh." Shinichi wondered if that should mean anything to him. He knew it was Valentine's Day, but… "What about it?"

Kaito turned his back to Shinichi in order to take a deep breath and compose himself, lest he scream and tear his own hair out. Once he was suitably collected, he faced Shinichi again and announced. "I want to take you to dinner. Will you go to dinner with me?"

Shinichi blinked and then looked at his cup ramen. He looked back at Kaito and shrugged. "Sure. I don't really have anything in the house worth eating anyway. Where did you want to go?"

Kaito resisted the urge to crumple up on the floor and laugh hysterically until he started bawling. Shinichi just didn't get it, and, what was worse, Kaito had known that Shinichi wasn't going to get it when he'd decided to gather his courage and ask Shinichi out for Valentine's Day.

Instead, Kaito smiled and replied, "There's this place called Arsène's that Haku-chan told me about the other day. Come on. My treat."

"I can pay for myself, Kuroba." Shinichi chuckled and rolled his eyes as if he thought Kaito was being silly.

Kaito smiled softly, falling into step beside Shinichi as they headed for the door. "But I want to treat you."

"We both know you don't have any money," Shinichi snorted, grabbing an umbrella from the stand by the door and then locking the door behind them.

"I got a part-time job and saved up so I could take you to dinner," Kaito explained, a light blush coloring his cheeks, though it was indistinguishable in the dim light of the fading day and coming storm.

"Oh yeah?" Shinichi cocked his head to the side. "What kind of job?"

Kaito seemed to shrink up. "Modeling," he mumbled in embarrassment, but it came out irritated as it always did when Kaito was embarrassed. It was as if he were challenging Shinichi to make something of it.

Shinichi thought about it for a second. "You'd be good at that."

"Y-You think so?" Kaito instantly brightened up, a little skip entering his step.

"Yeah," Shinichi confirmed, not thinking much of it. "You've got a pretty face and a nice body."

On the inside, Kaito was absolutely vibrating with joy. "I should have known that you only liked me for my body, Shin-chan," he faked a sob.

Shinichi frowned. Even though Kaito was only fooling around, somehow the accusation still bothered him. "You know I hang out with you because I find you an intellectually stimulating companion."

It kind of sounded like Kaito muttered something in the ballpark of "I wish you found me stimulating in some way other than just intellectually." but what Shinichi was sure he heard was "Really? And here I thought that you kept me around for my sense of humor."

Shinichi deadpanned and grumbled, "Not a chance. You have a sucky personality and a warped sense of humor. No one would tolerate your existence solely on that."

Kaito stuck out his lip in a pout. "You're so mean, Shin-chan. Keep it up and I won't pay for your dinner."

"I'm paying for my own dinner anyway." Shinichi rolled his eyes, ignoring the empty threats.

"But I wanted to take you on a date for Valentine's Day!" Kaito whined childishly so that Shinichi might not take him seriously in the event that Shinichi found the idea repulsive.

Shinichi didn't miss a step as he forged on straight ahead. "Mmhm. That's nice, Kuroba."

Kaito smiled sadly and kept trucking along. Man, Shinichi was clueless, but…it was kind of cute, and as much as Kaito found it infuriating, he also thought it was endearing. Besides, he liked a challenge. He wasn't going to let Shinichi's own density keep them apart. One day, and soon, Shinichi would get it. Kaito would make sure of it, even if he had to go up to the guy with a big, flashing, neon sign and kiss him while fireworks went off in the background, asking Shinichi to go out with him. They'd get there. Eventually.

…

Mikau: There you go. Let me know what you think! So…Eiko and Noiz, my puppy-children, have this one squeaky toy that my mom bought for them. It's super loud and incredibly obnoxious and they LOVE it. Noiz delights in just squeaking it and squeaking it and squeaking it over and over. I really hope they put a hole in it or rip the squeaker out very, very soon because I can't stand it anymore. Does that make me a bad puppy momma? See you next time!