Chapter 8

Ahhhh. When I wrote this chapter I got sick. No kidding. Ew.

"ACHOO!" Shinichi yelled, relishing the time when the boogers finally launched out of his nose. It had been almost an hour since the twinge feeling had started. Why did it have to be today? Shinichi thought with depression. Sunday. Of all days! I absolutely hate being sick, and for it to be this important of a day…

He heard a door opening and closing downstairs. Suspiciously, he sat up in bed. Bad idea, his head told him in the form of incessant pounding. His parents had gone home yesterday (with a quite dramatic send-off). Who was nonchalantly coming inside his house? Sniffle. Mystery-person sounded like he/she was walking up the stairs. Footfalls were quick, and they sounded like a man's. His heart began beating faster when the person came closer to his room. He was in no condition to resist or fight if it was a malicious person…

"Shinichi-kun!"

Oh. Malicious? Ha. Shinichi slumped back down in bed, closing his eyes to the loud magician in front of him. "Shinichi…kun?" Now it was a question. "Are you okay?!"

"Yeah, sure." His voice betrayed him: obviously, he was congested.

"Don't lie!" Kaito sternly ordered, narrowing his eyes.

"Ugh…my head is pounding and spinning, my nose is so stuffed I can't stand it, my throat is sore…I was fine yesterday. I hate this."

"Oh no!" Kaito exclaimed. Shinichi peeked at him through half-open eyes. He looked genuinely worried.

"Don't worry, it's just a cold. I'm just angry that I can't go to the Kid heist like this."

Something in Kaito's expression was odd for a moment…Then he declared, "I won't go either. I was going to accompany you, but I'm going to stay right here and nurse you back to health, Shinichi-kun."

He definitely looked determined, but Shinichi tried to convince him to leave. "Kaito-kun, I honestly appreciate the offer and I'm truly touched by how much you care," here he took a breath with his mouth, "but you really don't have to. Go see your thief idol."

Kaito shook his head. "No. It'd be no fun without you there. Come on, let me help. I promise to be quiet. Oh, or I could read you a book! A good one! Sherlock Holmes?"

Shinichi smiled. "Thanks for trying. Though I'd rather just lay here, miserable, instead of reading."

Kaito looked concerned. Then he set to work, having the boss's confirmation that he could stay. "Well, first of all, you actually shouldn't be laying down. Here, let me…" He made Shinichi sit up in his bed, positioned the pillows so that Shinichi could sit comfortably on them, and laid Shinichi back onto them in a sitting position. "See? Now you can breathe a bit better through your nose. Also…I know how much you like coffee, but I'm making you some tea. Later tonight I'll make you chicken soup. They say that's—"

"Achooooooooooo!" Shinichi howled. Kaito giggled a bit. "Sorry for interrupting you," Shinichi said, grabbing a tissue to blow his nose.

"They say that chicken soup is good for you when you've got a cold. And yes, by the way, I can cook!" Kaito now had a sort of smug smirk on his face that reminded Shinichi of someone...who was that? While he mulled that over, Kaito continued babbling about the benefits of chicken soup.

"Kid!" Shinichi finally decided, shouting it and then coughing directly after. Kaito blinked, looking slightly startled. "Oh, no, nothing. Not you..." It would be foolish to tell someone so close to him that he reminded him of a criminal—even if he idolized that criminal.

"Well, Shinichi-kun, I'm going to rush to the store and find some ingredients for chicken soup. Surely you have absolutely nothing here; you never have cooking material." Kaito began putting on his coat, getting ready to go out.

"Wait...I'm sure that I have a can of chicken soup. Definitely." Shinichi nodded, kind of agreeing with himself.

Kaito looked back at him almost incredulously. "Ehh? A can of chicken soup? Really?" He chuckled, seeming to be teasing the sick boy, and his conceited attitude made Shinichi want to punch him... "Of course not, Shinichi-kun! For you to get the most out of it and feel oh-so very much better, I'm going to prepare some amazing homemade soup." Okay, maybe not punch him so much as kiss him...

...

What was that? Did Shinichi just think about kissing Kaito? Even for just a moment, even if he wouldn't have actually done it...It was his cold. Yes, that had to be it. He was just so sick that his mind conjured up strange ideas.

"Shinichi-kun, I'm leaving now, okay?" Kaito turned back around to face Shinichi as he said this and then gasped. Rushing over to Shinichi, he all but slapped his hand onto the sick, confused boy's head. Looking down at him in concern, Kaito said, "Shinichi-kun, your face is so red and hot! Are you okay? Has your fever gone up?"

Oh, crap. Am I blushing? That thought made him blush harder still. When Shinichi looked up at Kaito to answer, however, he couldn't keep his blue eyes focused on Kaito's violet ones. His gaze instead traveled down the nose...and to the lips. Kaito's lips were pretty; they looked plump and red and luscious and—what was he thinking? God. He had to stop thinking about these perverse things and answer the waiting worried boy's question. He opened his mouth to reply, barely able to rip his gaze away from those aforementioned luscious-looking lips. What came out instead of his intended "I'm fine" was this mortifying question: "Can I kiss you?"

Kaito's eyes widened immensely, and his face suddenly became alight with a blush. "Wh-what? Shinichi-kun...you...I...really?"

Shinichi thought about it for a few seconds. Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid! Gah, why did I say that? My stupid mouth doesn't listen to my brain. How do I get out of this...? But while he tried to find a way to excuse his embarrassing question, his eyes were once again drawn to Kaito's lips. And he found himself saying, "Yes, really, you doofus."

Kaito inhaled nervously and leaned down slowly, closer and closer to Shinichi's expectant, sick, red face...

And then he quickly pulled back, shaking his head. "Shinichi-kun, you're sick. I can't take anything you say seriously. Ha ha ha, silly, not like you'd want me to kiss you if you were, well, sane. Anyway, you have a fever so I'll buy some medicine while I'm out. Uh, ha, well, bye then Shinichi-kun! Be good while I'm gone."

Kaito escaped and closed Shinichi's bedroom door. With a sigh, he rubbed his face and tried to get the image out of his mind. There was Shinichi...laying in his bed of all places, randomly asking Kaito for a k...a kiss. A kiss! Shinichi Kudou wanted to kiss Kaito Kuroba?! No, no, no. Shinichi was very, very sick. He would never want that. Of course not. He was sick. That explains all his actions, right? Yeah...that's it.

Back in his room, Shinichi stared at the door with a frown and muttered to himself, "It would've been really nice if he'd actually done it." He waited for a few minutes, staring at the door in disappointment, and then slowly drifted to sleep.

"Shin...ichi...kun..." Kaito whispered slowly. Seeing no response from Shinichi, Kaito gently felt the forehead that had been so hot before. Now, it was barely warmer than normal. Contemplating for a moment, Kaito ducked down and swiftly kissed Shinichi's cheek. "Okay, I kissed you," Kaito whispered to the sleeping boy, "Happy now?" Of course, Shinichi wasn't awake to answer. Kaito smiled fondly at him.

And then Shinichi's cell phone, poised on his bedside table, rang. The sudden noise caused Kaito to twitch in surprise and Shinichi to wake with a start. "Aaaaah..." he moaned, sounding utterly, miserably sick. He grabbed the phone, glancing at Kaito with a smile to acknowledge his return. "Hello?" he said into the phone.

"Kudou-kun!" The voice of Ginzo Nakamori boomed through the phone. "Do you realize what time it is?"

"Uh..." Shinichi replied, realizing that no, he didn't know what time it was, because he'd never thought to keep a clock in his room. Weird...I should really see to it that I get one in here for times like these. "Not really. Why?"

"It's eight-thirty! Eight-thirty, you dimwit!" Shinichi rolled his eyes and pulled the phone away from his ear a bit to ease the loudness of Nakamori-keibu's yelling. "You were supposed to come to Kid's Heist!"

"Well, I'm sick. And I was under the impression that you didn't particularly want me there anyway. How did it go? Badly?" Compared to Nakamori-keibu's absurdly loud ferocity, Shinichi was calm as could be.

"He didn't show."

That's all he had to say for Shinichi to really get interested. "What?! He didn't show? Does that mean he didn't take the jewel?"

"Of course that's what it means! Agh, I'm surrounded by idiots!"

"Is there...I mean, you didn't do anything to keep him away, did you?" It would be just like the hot-headed man to sneakily provide a fake gem or some other suspicious decoy that Kid would see right through.

"No! Real gem, plenty of security, the usual. He just...didn't come." A voice shouted in the background, and Nakamori-keibu sighed. "Well, anyhow, I wanted to know if you had any ideas on this. Tell me if you figure something out; bye." With that, he was gone.

"Shinichi-kun, what's going on?" Kaito asked. Shinichi turned to him and explained the situation. "Oh! He didn't show up? That doesn't seem like him; he is a famous thief, after all. Hmm...maybe he had something urgent to do."

Shinichi shook his head. "Doubt it. You really make no sense. You need to stop acting like he's some sort of all-supreme god; he's not a saint, he's a thief. Thieves are criminals. If he says he's going to steal something, he's probably not going to lie."

Kaito dropped his happy facade. "Haven't we talked about this before, Shinichi-kun? Kaitou Kid...he may be a criminal, but that doesn't mean he isn't a person; that doesn't mean he doesn't have feelings. He's probably a really great person inside."

"Look, I know you think that. I'm not saying he's the worst of them all, but he deserves punishment. Do you realize that? Criminals need to be punished."

"Yeah. Yeah, I know. He's just...he's a great magician, you know. Almost as good as moi." Kaito still wasn't back to his normal self; it was apparent although the smile appeared again. "Anyone who's that great, that creative...do you think he's all bad?"

Shinichi stared at Kaito. The truth was...he didn't. He didn't think Kid was that bad at all, and Kaito made a good point. However, he committed crimes. How could he make Kaito understand...? "I don't think he's as bad as some others. He returns things he steals and he cares about peoples' safety." He tried a smile, and Kaito reciprocated it without complaint, like a sign of forgiveness.

Kaito-kun's smile...it makes me happy. Seeing him smile like that made Shinichi smile even more. When he smiled, Kaito's eyes lit up and his face just bloomed with happiness and it was...beautiful. "Thanks for trying to understand, Shinichi-kun. I just really..." he looked away, his face turning from a strange annoyance, presumably at himself, to a thoughtful smile. "Well, you know I'm fascinated by him. And I really care about you. I'd like you to understand at least why I think the way I do." His pink, vulnerable face coupled with his slight smile—different than the normal Kaito: confident and secure, a huge grin on his face—really just distracted Shinichi from what Kaito was saying.

"Jeez, Kaito-kun," he said. "Why do you have to be so damn cute?"

Kaito stopped talking, staring at Shinichi, blinking. "Sh-sh-shinichi-kun...? Um, you..."

Shinichi quickly slapped a hand to his mouth. "Shit! I-I didn't mean to say that out loud, I just...agh, it's my stupid cold. It's making me say things I don't mean to say...just forget that."

"Right. Definitely. So, your soup is probably ready...want some? And maybe that kiss?" Kaito winked to show it was a joke and smirked, more like his normal self. Not uncute, just not as genuine, Shinichi decided while nodding in response to Kaito's question about soup. Kaito continued smiling, soon back to his normal magical, chipper, pain-in-the-ass self. Nope. Definitely still cute.

Oh my...I had originally planned for just some hintage as to the whole Kaitou Kid thing and feelings that started to come up...but it seems as if I went much, much too far with the feelings thing. It got a little fluffy there, yeah? Oops. I fail as an author. Oh well! The story took me where it wanted to go, not the other way around. I'm okay with it, I suppose.

Anyway sorry if it's moving too...fast or something? Nothing should happen for a bit anyway so no worries :D

And please review because I haven't been getting many :( I love reviews!

Also this is a really out of character chapter and Kaito is always hard to get haha. Ooops sorry! AND ANOTHER APOLOGY is that I know a few of you were looking forward to the heist and if this hadn't been a mostly pre-written story I probably would have written it but this was supposed to be like an actual plot chapter even though it wasn't much but fluff...it did honestly move the plot on a lot. So I'm sorry if it disappointed any of you that the heist this time wasn't shown. There will be another! I promise. For sure at least two more.