Chapter 18

There's a reference here from chapter 11 so just beware...I dunno maybe you don't remember that haha. I hardly even remembered it before I wrote this. I had to go back and look...I've truthfully probably forgotten like five big points in the plot that I foreshadowed, but hey it's been a story over the course of a few years! (I get really lazy) :P Btw I don't like this chapter. I just had to make him think about things.

Story timeeez :D

Shinichi opened his eyes and, seeing the sun filtering into the room, blinked. Woah, he thought, sitting up in his bed. This had been the first night he had been able to sleep peacefully. He stood up and stretched, feeling almost well-rested. He hadn't had a nightmare and he hadn't woken up in the middle of the night...awesome. He only had Heiji and Ran to thank for that: it was Sunday and Heiji had stayed overnight that past two days. Ran had weaved in and out of his presence throughout this time as well, and Shinichi wasn't feeling great but it was better than before.

He went downstairs and smelled a strangely sweet aroma coming from the kitchen. He curiously poked his head in and saw Heiji preparing breakfast. He chuckled quietly at the image of this lazy boy actually taking initiative to do something for once. And it struck him again, the strangeness of seeing Heiji in pajama bottoms, no shirt and also no hat. Seeing the messy hair of this just-awoken detective made Shinichi smile. He walked in and said, "Hey Hattori. What are you making?"

Heiji turned around from his position next to the stove and smiled. "Hey Kudo!" he exclaimed, as always much louder than needed. "I thought that I would make you breakfast to repay you for gettin' me food and lettin' me stay here!" Shinichi's eyes traveled to the pan on the stove, which had a thin coating of some sort of batter. Heiji flipped the circular thing to allow it to cook on the other side.

"Is that a crepe?" Shinichi asked, tilting his head and moving closer to get a better look.

"Yup!" Heiji said cheerfully. He then turned to the counter beside him. "Now we have some fresh bananas and strawberries here, and I'm also about to cut up some apples. So you can choose whatever you want."

Shinichi saw the cut up pieces of strawberries and bananas waiting on plates. "Wow," he said, impressed. "This is pretty awe—dammit, you used my ingredients to make this so it's not paying me back at all, you idiot!"

Heiji laughed loudly. "Ya got me there! Just shut up and eat your food."

Shinichi obliged, filling his crepe with strawberries and topping it off with banana slices. He licked his lips in anticipation of the delicious-looking meal and sat down at the table. Digging in, he couldn't help but let a soft sound of contentment leave his closed lips. After swallowing, he smiled at Heiji, who was just sitting down with his own crepes (three, the greedy bastard).

"It's really pretty good," he complimented, a bit surprised that Heiji could cook so well.

Heiji beamed. "Thank ya!"

"Well now..." a voice sighed from the kitchen door, causing both boys to turn their heads quickly around. Yusaku strolled in with a quirked eyebrow and addressed Shinichi. "New boyfriend already?" he chuckled.

"Uh, no," Shinichi replied with a slight blush, "this is Hattori Heiji-san. Hattori, this is my father."

"Oh!" Heiji exclaimed in excitement. "Kudou-san! Hi, how are ya? I've heard a lot about you."

Yusaku nodded. "I can say the same for you. My son talks about you all the time..."

Shinichi put his fork down and quirked an eyebrow at his father. "Anyway! What are you doing here?"

"Oh. Yes. Your mother and I felt bad for not being here on your birthday so she sent me here with a present for you." He smirked. "Your mother wanted to help you learn the ropes, but she couldn't come and we thought you'd be fine with it yourself. By the way, where is your uh...other friend?"

Heiji tried to subtly shake his head but Shinichi saw and rolled his eyes at Heiji's terrible attempt. Then he faced his father and shrugged nonchalantly. "He's gone. Haven't seen him in a while."

Yusaku blinked. "Oh...Can I talk with you alone for a few moments? Maybe Hattori-san can eat his breakfast while we catch up..."

Shinichi nodded, waved to Heiji, and followed his father into the library. His father sat in the chair behind his desk and surveyed Shinichi. "Well son...you said your friend was gone. Do you mean you don't know where he is?"

Shinichi scrunched up his eyebrows. "Well...no, not really. I don't really care anymore."

Yusaku sat up straight and leveled an intense stare at Shinichi. "What I'm asking is did he suddenly disappear?"

"What? No...Father, do you know something that I should know about?" Shinichi was getting quite suspicious at his father's strange behaviour.

Yusaku cleared his throat. "So did you break up with him or what?" Shinichi noticed how his father deftly avoided the question, but he nodded in response anyway, not wanting to give the details. And then he realized something. The last time his father had been here he had given Shinichi a warning in this very room...'Don't be shocked if he's not what you think he is' he'd said.

Shinichi walked close to the desk where his father was situated. "Father...do you know something about him? Do you know his identity?"

Yusaku sighed. "Did I know that your boyfriend was Kaitou Kid? Yes. His father was the previous Kid. If you broke up with him I guessed it would be because you found that out...Must've really been hard for you. Good thing you have another friend to keep you company, but what about Ran-san? Where is she when you're in need of a friend?"

Shinichi twitched and his hands tightened into irritated fists. "Father, do not try to set me up with Ran right now. I just broke up with Kaito recently because I found out he's been lying to me since he met me; I don't want some other person so don't go trying to interfere in my life. Now if you will excuse me, I'm going to go finish my breakfast." He turned sharply to leave and made his way back into the kitchen, where Heiji was finishing up what looked to be his third crepe.

"Wow, Hattori. Try toning down the food sometime, yeah?" he joked, taking a bite of his half-finished crepe from earlier.

Heiji rolled his eyes and then licked his strawberry juice-stained lips. "Shut up, Kudou." He elbowed Shinichi in the side and Shinichi laughed. He tried to push the other ordeals to the back of his mind and let his friend ease his broken mind.

Yusaku returned after a minute and handed Shinichi a large plastic box that looked like it contained loads of makeup—it wasn't wrapped or anything. Shinichi opened it and his eyes met the confusing view of makeup as well as some other strange items he didn't know what to do with and...was that a wig?

"It's a disguise kit," Yusaku explained. "There's a handbook for good disguises, and your mother said she would come within a month or two to help you learn how to use it well."

"Wow," Shinichi said, genuinely impressed. "This is pretty cool." He picked up a makeup brush and wiped his face with it, testing it out. Heiji looked at him with a badly suppressed smirk and Shinichi stopped. "I have no idea what I'm doing," he admitted, and Heiji burst out laughing.

"Thanks," Shinichi said to his father. Yusaku nodded and handed him a folded piece of paper along with a meaningful look.

"I'm going out for a while, and I'll leave tomorrow. See you later, son. Good-bye, Hattori-san."

The boys said good-bye and then Shinichi opened the note that his father had given him. Men from an organization are following him. They killed his father and they're trying to kill him. Think about it for a while. Ask him about Pandora.

Shinichi sighed and his stomach churned at his next question. "Hattori, any news on the next Kid heist?"

Heiji blinked in surprise and then smiled. "That's what I'm talking about now! Gettin' back in the zone to keep your mind off things! Good for you! But...I don't think there's been any activity from him lately. I'll be sure to keep an eye out and tell you when there is one."

"Right," Shinichi nodded. "Thanks..." He was secretly very relieved. He knew he had to face this if he was given the chance, but it was great that he didn't have to deal with it quite yet.

Another month passed and there was no word from Kid. If it weren't for his abhorrence for the man inside the costume, Shinichi would be worried. He really wanted to be able to find out about these malicious men and this 'Pandora' his father mentioned. He felt like he was getting better, especially because he was more focused when school started back up again. His mother had come to show him the basics of disguising himself, and he had been called to do two small cases.

It was a Wednesday and it was raining. Shinichi walked home from school with Ran, like normal, and they were chatting under their umbrellas when his cell phone rang. Seeing that it was Hattori, he flipped it open.

There was a heist.

A heist. With Kid. With Kaito. And Shinichi was going to go. He began to get dizzy at the thought, but he took some deep breaths to calm himself. He forced a smile and said into the phone, "Thanks for telling me, Hattori! I'll definitely be there! See ya!"

"Where are you going?" Ran asked curiously.

"Just the Kid heist," Shinichi said. "No big deal. It's just, um...the first one in a long time and we're kind of excited."

Ran nodded in understanding and smiled. "Get him this time Shinichi! I'm glad you're getting back to your old self!"

"Yeah," Shinichi said with a smile. "Me too."

But when he went home all he wanted to do was pass out.

Ahaha what a loser...