Nayru's Note: This chapter is… a weird intermission chapter that came out of nowhere (I kid you not, I have no idea what happened, the ideas just popped out, like, today.) I decided to damn everything to hell and post it, figuring it's… good for the plot. And stuff. Yes. Let us stick to that.

I guess it has a bit more angst than the others, since a bunch of serious issues are being addressed. But I tried my best to patch everything up with some crack, too. Hopefully that helped.

~4 Idiots In A Closet~
Chapter 09: When in doubt, blame it on the full moon

"The time the body's been found…" Hakuba spoke up while hunching down next to the already lowered corpse, checking the dead person's pulse. … Or rather lack thereof. "Four-thirty-two, twelve seconds, and forty six milliseconds."

"Yer aware that da moment you finish sayin' that, the time is already different, right?" Heiji threw him a 'how much of an idiot are you?' kind of look. "Nobody cares about seconds, let alone milliseconds, dude!"

"Nobody asked for your opinion, Hattori."

"What currently matters here more is figuring out the time of death," Shinichi butted in, already touching the corpse in all kinds of places while on the lookout for clues. "Rigor mortis hasn't kicked in yet."

"Kuroba, would you mind calling the police?" Saguru looked up to the thief.

"You know, while I absolutely hate this kind of thing, and I still blame you guys for this happening, just so we're clear," Kaito murmured, though he complied and decided to steal Hakuba's phone while he wasn't watching before lazily dialing the number. "I suppose I can't just make a run for it and leave it to the police, like I usually do, since Tantei-kun and I are possible suspects in your eyes."

That made Hakuba raise an eyebrow.

"Well, aren't we? We both went into the building, while you and Hattori stayed behind on the sports field, and…"

"Kuroba, did you kill this man?" Saguru stared at him, not even meaning the question.

"Of course I didn't. But isn't that what all culprits say?"

"You wouldn't be able to hurt a fly, so how am I supposed to suspect you of murdering someone you probably didn't even know?" The London detective sounded anything but impressed. "And I have reasons to believe that Kudo-kun would have a hard time hanging someone so high up in his current predicament. Especially during the short time he was gone."

"See, that's because you're biased. With my knowledge, I could definitely see the possibility— Ah, Inspector Megure? This is Hakuba Saguru speaking."

The half-British teen wasn't sure if Kaito was really serious or was simply trying to troll him (the latter seemed more probable), but the moment the thief started talking with the police in his own voice, he felt the sudden urge to punch him. "Hey— when did you get my phone?"

Once Kuroba was done with the report, he threw the white-colored piece of plastic back to him with a smirk. "They're on their way."

"I hate you sometimes…" Hakuba muttered under his nose, taking a look at his phone before intending to put it away, and… Of course, the background of doom featuring Kaitou Kid with kisses and hearts needed to be back in place again. Saguru felt like killing someone the second time that day.

"Hey, Hakuba, we're going to solve this case without ya~"

The blond teen stared daggers at the magician for another few seconds flat before deciding to damn it all to hell, slip his phone back into his pocket and go back to the investigation. Kaito simply waved him off.

It was kind of amusing to see three detectives work around a corpse and interrogate possible suspects when each one of them tried their best to prove their deductions were better than the rest, even if, technically, it was in their best interest to work together.

Kuroba decided to watch the whole thing from afar rather than get involved, especially when Megure and his men made their appearance. He might not have been a murderer, but Kid was still labeled a criminal, and staying around the police always made him feel a little on edge, even if he always tried his best to hide it.

Time passed, and it managed to get dark in the meantime.

"Hey guys… I know you are the experts in this, but…" Kaito spoke up, finally deciding to throw in his five cents, when the detectives seemed stuck in their trail for a longer while. "Did it ever occur to you that it might be exactly what it looks like? A suicide?"

Not every murderer out there plotted a crime filled with unusual hints and case scenarios no-one in their right mind would even think about, right?

Eventually, the case was closed, and they were free to go home.

"Hey, Shinichi…" The girl's voice on the other end of the line had a hint of sadness to it. "When are you coming back?"

It wasn't the first time she asked, and it wouldn't be the last. He couldn't really blame her for it. "… I don't know yet, Ran. This case—"

"This case has been taking you over a year by now," Ran cut him off, both anger and frustration in her tone raising. "You took it up shortly before Valentine's, last year… and now it's June. What kind of case is this, Shinichi? Those never took you so long to solve. And you can't even tell me what you're involved in…"

The boy stared at the window in front of him, watching his own, shrunken reflection, and at a loss what to tell her.

"Are you even still in Japan?"

"Of course I'm in Japan," he assured. "I've told you, my parents called our school and told the principal I'm transferring to America so that things wouldn't get more complicated. I know how that sounds, but I'm really too busy to attend school right now."

Or more like I'm unable to attend it in my current state… But he couldn't tell her that.

There was a lengthy pause after that, and Shinichi wondered if it was about time to tell her he needed to go and end the conversation, before Ran started asking things he wouldn't be able to answer. And yet… Something kept him.

"Sorry for being suspicious… But the last time I saw you, it was in London."

"Yeah… I'm still sorry about that." He could reassure her and tell her he was there because of a case… But he'd be lying to her again. They've already talked about this, so Shinichi hoped she wouldn't ask him about it anymore.

"Say, Shinichi…" Ran started, hesitant. "I wanted to give you a reply to what you said to me back then… But I don't want to do it over the phone." He knew very well what she was talking about, and he knew that she knew he knew. "So if we ever see each other again, whenever that might be… You'll get it."

How ironic was is that they'd see each other in person probably even today again, and Ran won't be aware of it? It was times like these that gave Shinichi the biggest amount of doubts about any of what he was doing. If only… If only he had told her the truth on that first night of his change, things would be so much less complicated. And now, the more time had passed, and the longer the lie was going on, it was harder and harder to say it.

"… Yeah. I'll look forward to it." He gave a small, sad smile, well aware that she couldn't see it.

There was a soft 'hmph' sound at the other end of the line, as if Ran was suddenly throwing a fit about something. "You make it sound like you're convinced it won't be a punch to the face, mister detective."

Well... That was a surprise. The way Ran tried to sound angry despite it being an obvious joke made him chuckle. Keeping the conversation more carefree than serious - like it tended to be whenever they talked - was a nice change, though. "Honestly, with what I put you through lately, I'd deserve it."

"At least you see it." Another pause followed, and Shinichi could hear her sigh. "Hey, where are you right now? Can you see the sky from where you are?"

"Um… Give me a moment." While Conan might have found the request somewhat weird at first, he understood everything the moment he moved to open up the balcony door, taking a step outside. "There's a full moon tonight."

"Pretty, isn't it?"

A fool moon on the night sky and no Kaitou Kid heist taking place. It was somewhat funny how his view on it changed, now that he became friends with the thief and found out about Pandora… Thinking on their conversations back in Kuroba's house also made him remember something else, though.

Something in his resolve stirred.

"Hey, Ran? I…" Shinichi spoke up before he thought properly on what he wanted to say, noticing how his heartbeat sped up at the sole idea.

"Yes?" Ran asked when he didn't continue. "… Shinichi?"

All of a sudden, Shinichi was painfully aware that we was actually… too scared to tell her anything at that point. Putting her in danger (which she already was in, either way) wasn't even the only thing he was worried about in this case scenario anymore. That Ran would worry herself to death with his condition and his 'never-ending' chase after the men in black wasn't even the gist of it, either.

There was so much more to it than that. Starting from things getting really uncomfortable between them, him possibly needing to move out of the agency, to Ran most likely killing him for everything they've been through in the first place. … If she found out that Edogawa Conan and Kudo Shinichi were one and the same person all along, she would end up hating him, wouldn't she?

"Yeah, it's really pretty." The boy tried to smile, hiding his sudden nervousness as much as he could. "Maybe we could watch it together more often, like this…"

Silence fell between them again, wrecking his nerves only more. God, he was so bad at this kind of stuff sometimes... What was he thinking, anyway? The boy tried to get a hold of himself, hoping that Ran wouldn't catch on how his brain was currently panicking on him.

"… You're in some kind of trouble, aren't you?" Shinichi expected a lot of things. Ran asking him that in a soft, sad voice wasn't one of them. "I've been wondering about it since a while now… You did mention that the case you got involved with was dangerous. But it's something really, really bad, isn't it?" Her voice was hesitant as she went on. "Could it be that you can't come back, not because you don't want to, but… because you're actually unable to?"

Shinichi opened his mouth, wanting to say something… but nothing came out.

"It's true, isn't it? That's why you can't tell me anything…"

Crap. This isn't where he wanted for this conversation to go. Conan swallowed, trying to find his voice. But… Was he supposed to lie to her again? "… I don't want you to worry about me, Ran."

"Well, I'm already worrying!" She suddenly yelled, and the small detective had to move away from the speaker, trying not to freak out. "So what difference does it make? The less I know what you're up to, or where you are, the more my imagination starts to run wild! I'm so scared that you'll eventually stop calling at all… I just feel… like you're so far away lately…"

"Ran…" First she yelled at him, and then she sounded like she was about to start crying. Great. He needed to calm her down. Careful approach, careful approach… "Sometimes… I'm closer to you than you may think."

"… What is that supposed to mean?"

Crap, that's not what he wanted to say! "In spirit, I mean! What I meant was—"

"Kudo Shinichi, have you been spying me?"

Well, at least she didn't sound like she wanted to cry anymore… "S-Stupid! Why would I do something like that?"

"Don't tell me Hattori was right! I swear, if I see you outside of the agency, like last time… Oh, wait, I keep forgetting that wasn't you."

"You keep forgetting…" He needed to keep it cool. Mixing crucial facts he wasn't supposed to be aware of was just bound to dig him deep. "Wait, what, who wasn't me? What are you talking about?"

"Oh, nothing," Ran huffed, not even trying to hide her annoyance. "Just so you know, I have another admirer hovering around my door. Who knows, maybe I'll change my mind and take him up on his offer, since you're never around…"

"Offer…? What…" Shinichi frowned, feeling totally lost, cogs in his mind turning. "Don't tell me Kid— I mean— T-That little kid, um, what was his name again…"

"Shinichi." Ran's voice was suddenly firm and promising murder. "How do you know I was taking about Kid?"

"I didn't have Kid, Kid in mind!" God, where was this conversation even going anymore? He wanted to hang up so bad… "Wait, did you just say he was… flirting with you?"

"What if he was?"

"But that's impossible."

"And what makes you say that?"

"Because…" Shinichi trailed off, suddenly unsure of anything anymore.

"Because what?" Ran demanded an answer. "Because he wouldn't do that to you? Are you friends with him, Shinichi? He told me you've met a couple of times before, you know… I knew there was something suspicious behind the whole thing, because he knew about things he shouldn't know about us, and I thought…"

Hey, hey… What was happening here? Was there something he wasn't aware of? Conan's eyes widened, only more confusion setting in. "Ran, did Kid do anything to you?"

He could hear a half-hearted chuckle from her, her voice turning less strained all of a sudden. "Sorry, I got a little carried away," she assured. "No, he didn't do anything… He just dressed up as you once, and I misunderstood something, and things got a little weird…"

That made Conan frown. Hard.

"But nothing happened, don't worry. I just…" He heard her sigh. "I just miss you."

Shinichi closed his eyes, his confusion giving way to helplessness and all kinds of second thoughts again. "… I miss you too, Ran."

He honestly didn't expect her to chuckle the next moment. "Did I make you jealous?"

Oh, for the love of… "You kind of did, yeah."

"Hey, Haibara…" Conan approached the small girl in the basement, watching her type something up on the computer screen. He figured he might as well let the bomb drop. "If the Organization ever found out the truth about us… They wouldn't really stop to ask who else knows about them from us, would they?"

Needless to say, that made her stop whatever it was she was doing, making her turn in Shinichi's direction with a raised eyebrow and a skeptic kind of look on her face.

"What's this? Are you getting cold feet and second thoughts again? Don't tell me you're suddenly planning to tell her." Haibara frowned, crossing her hands before herself. "We've talked about this countless times before, Kudo-kun. I swear your new friends have some bad influence on you."

"I know, but—" Wait, stop. How did Haibara… "Wait, what are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb. I may not be a detective, but I'm not blind. There's been some weird activity going on in front of your house lately." Weird activity? … Did she mean Okiya and him dragging a wounded Kid to the house? … And crap, he almost forgot that Hakuba dropped him off and then picked him up with his own car once, later on. Did she see all of that? "Where have you been disappearing to as of late, hmm? I have good reasons to believe you weren't staying over at Mouri's all the time."

Just trust Haibara to catch on on the most subtle of things... For not being a detective, she definitely was too observant for her own good, sometimes. To be honest, it was one of her qualities that kind of scared him. "… And what reasons might those be?"

Ai's eyebrow rose up again, and she gave him the most skeptic and unimpressed look ever, apparently not even intending to dignify that with an answer. When realization hit him, it made his blood run cold.

"Wait, the spare pair of glasses…" He thought he managed to snatch and hide those away from her for good! Was Agasa involved in this again? "Please tell me you didn't track me…"

"Don't worry, I didn't pin-point your exact location. I only know you were somewhere in Ekoda."

That managed to calm Shinichi down somewhat, though he was far from stopping to panic just yet. "Can I take your word for that? Haibara, this is something… very important, and I can't let anyone know where I was, because that would cause all kinds of trouble."

"For you or for your dear thief?"

Shinichi's blood couldn't possibly run more cold anymore. He just stared at her, wide-eyed, not sure what to say.

"Honestly… The look on your face brings back memories of the time I told you the truth about myself," Ai mused, the tone of her voice calm as ever, albeit with a hint of amusement this time. "Calm down, Kudo-kun. I don't know what's going on between you two, but that person saved my life once, too, remember? I won't do anything to endanger him."

She couldn't have lied about that, at least… Which was somewhat reassuring. But, dammit, he really screwed this up, didn't he? He honestly didn't want Haibara finding out about this.

"I can keep your mysterious trips to myself. Just tell me the truth, because your serious reactions got me curious now… Are you really seeing him?"

It took another moment for Shinichi to calm down. He was used to lying, and he had lied to Ai countless times before, but he didn't think he could fool her when she knew as much anymore. "… Yeah. Things got a little complicated," he admitted, a little reluctantly. "And it might sound weird, but… I think we got ourselves a new ally."

That made Haibara frown. "Wait. You didn't tell him the truth, did you?"

"About myself? He found out about it on his own, ages ago." There was no use lying about that one, either. "I haven't mentioned a word about you being in the same kind of situation, obviously. Although… he might have some kind of idea, after we dragged him into that whole thing on the train."

"You dragged him into the whole thing on the train. And without my knowledge, need I remind you?"

"Okay. That was my bad." Shinichi rolled his eyes. "It still worked out well in the end, though."

"How much did you tell him?"

Shinichi wished he could end the conversation there and then and just run back upstairs without having to answer that. He decided to try a more… humorous kind of approach, and hoped that Haibara wouldn't turn furious in a few seconds flat. "Funny thing about that, actually… It turned out that Kid also has some kind of mysterious organization on his tail. We're not sure if those guys are in any way related to the ones we're after yet, but…"

"What? Are you serious?" Well, she gave him a suspicious look, but she didn't seem mad at him, so it was good. "Any code-names?"

"Snake. And Spider." The boy pointed out. "The two I'm aware of, at least."

"They're not alcohol-related." Which was, of course, an excellent observation.

"They're not. But they also dress in black and carry guns around."

"Syndicates usually do."

"Yeah, rub it in my face." Shinichi gave her an annoyed look, since they weren't getting anywhere with this. "So you haven't heard of them?"

"I haven't."

"Okay." So much for that. Oh well, it didn't hurt to ask. "Next stop: does the word 'Pandora' mean anything to you?"

"Kuroba… You like Aoko-kun, don't you?"

Kaito turned to look at his blond classmate, trying to figure out where the bloody hell that came from. Hakuba was supposed to concentrate on fixing his bandages, not on stupid questions that made him feel confused. "… What's this about?"

Saguru didn't even look at him, as if he was trying to keep the whole thing as casual as he could. "I've been simply wondering… Why won't you tell her?"

"Are you stupid? I can't do that." The magician raised his voice, sounding as if it was obvious. "Not until I stuff Kaitou Kid back into the closet. I mean, if the guys targeting me would catch on her being of some significance to me, they'd most likely use it against me, wouldn't they?" It wasn't even a question. "It's enough that I'm putting you guys in possible danger while hanging out with you all the time."

Hakuba's hands stilled at that admission for the shortest of moments. "… I see. I suppose that makes sense."

"Besides… Aoko hates Kid," Kuroba went on, obviously not sounding happy about it. "If I ever got closer to her, it would just be more difficult to play the whole game... And I really don't need her finding out."

"So if you could help it, you'd never tell her?" Came the conclusion from the London detective. "You think she'd take it that badly?"

"I don't know… She'd probably end up hating me, too. I mean, she has every reason to… Both for lying to her and making a fool out of her dad all the time…" Kaito trailed off, getting lost in his own thoughts all of a sudden. "Why are you asking me all of this, though?" Serious talk aside, there was no harm in turning the tables a bit. The magician let himself smirk, teasing mode on. "Are you interested?"

"Don't be an idiot." Hakuba snapped a finger into his classmate's forehead, making the other wince in pain. "I simply figured… You don't have a lot of people you can talk to about any of this, do you?" The detective coughed into his fist, trying not to sound too awkward. "I might not be the best person for…"

Kuroba couldn't help himself and started laughing, derailing the blond completely.

"… Did I say something wrong?"

"No, it's just somewhat amusing…" Kuroba felt a little bad for reacting like that, but the expression on Saguru's face was just too precious to ignore. "For someone who has armies of girls squealing around you all the time, it's actually surprising that you're so… socially awkward when things get a little more personal." The thief commented, unable to fide his amusement. "You're even worse at this whole 'friend' thing than I am."

Derailment complete.

Hakuba looked embarrassed as hell.

"… Sorry for trying." And with that, he half-British teen was up on his feet, clearly intending to just damn it all to hell and leave.

"Wait, come back! I didn't mean it like that!" Kaito yelled, swiftly catching the other by the sleeves and stopping him in his attempts at getting away. "I… I'm actually the same in that regard, so I'm really not one to talk." For making fun of him, the magician figured he could be a little honest.

It was no surprise when Saguru raised an eyebrow and looked at him with obvious disbelief. "You, Kuroba? Socially awkward?"

"Is that hard to believe?" The thief gave him an apologetic kind of smile. "I might act like I like being in the center of attention all the time, but… when things start getting personal, I backpedal quite fast myself." And with that, he averted his gaze, his smile fading. "It's… something I started doing after I lost my father. Without even realizing it at first."

It took a moment to process. "So basically… You're scared of getting close to anyone." Hakuba blinked, clearly surprised by the information. "… So that they wouldn't be able to hurt you in the same kind of way anymore."

Kaito grimaced at the words, not bothering to hard his displease. "I don't like the way you put that, but… Something like that, I guess."

"Ah, I didn't mean to offend you... Sorry."

"No harm done." Kuroba changed the tone of his voice, wanting to sound more carefree. And to amplify it all, he lightly punched his classmate in the shoulder. "Stop being so formal, it's making me uncomfortable."

Hakuba didn't seem very convinced. "Does it… bother you that I started coming over so often?"

The magician blinked, not really expecting such a question. But fine, he could be honest with this one, too. "No." It was firm, and he sounded like he meant it. "I don't know why, but it's… different, with you three. I feel comfortable with you guys around."

He could see the detective relax at those words. "Well, then… I'm glad to hear that."

"Just don't let that get to your head!" Kaito yelled, because the smile that idiot gave him was making him feel embarrassed all of a sudden, too. "God, Hakuba, I didn't know you could be such a sap."

He punched him again, for good measure. When Saguru laughed, he felt like dying on the inside.

"That's enough heart-to-heart for one day." The magician concluded, already on his way to the kitchen. He felt himself blushing despite himself, and he definitely didn't need anyone seeing that - definitely not some stupid detectives, of all people. "Now shut up and make me some tea."

[Question.
Answer truthfully, or I'm going to kick your ass.]

Kaito blinked at the message he got from Shinichi, not sure what to make of it. Was it supposed to be serious or playful? Hmm… Trying not to dwell on the suspense, he quickly typed a response.

[Now I'm scared…
Should I be scared?]

It didn't even take half of a minute before the next message came.

[Depends on your answer.]

Well, that was… vague enough. Kuroba blinked, still not sure what to make of that. Carefully, he went for it.

['Kay… What's the question?]

Another ten seconds was all he needed to wait.

[Have you been flirting with Ran?]

The thief's insides dropped, giving way to a nasty feeling of dread in his stomach, as he kept staring at his phone's screen. That probably meant that… Ran told Shinichi something. That probably meant that he was about to be a dead man.

Heaven save him.

He almost had a heart attack then his phone suddenly vibrated in his hand again.

[Silence is working to your disadvantage right now.
Just saying.]

Kaito buried his face in his pillow, then mashed into it a few times in quiet agony, before shaky fingers started working on a reply.

[（；_・）
Before you kick my ass, I can explain.]

That's when his phone rang.

Shinichi was calling him in the middle of the night and Kid felt as if the world was about to end.

He kind of hoped he didn't look as terrified as he felt being. He also felt like sneaking under Hakuba's bed covers and never leaving from under them again. Kind of. The blond was asleep, and he probably wouldn't even notice…

Kuroba hung his head in defeat, pressing the thing he was holding to his ear and answering the damn phone.

"… Hi."

"You have thirty seconds."

The thief gulped, bracing himself for the sweetest ride of his life.

—t.b.c.

Nayru's Note: If you're wondering where this fic is even heading anymore, let me tell you: I have no idea myself anymore. I'll just sit here, keep writing, and see where it takes us. Hopefully it won't be Mars.

Next chapter, the start of the birthday party! Finally. Hopefully. … As long as my brain doesn't end up taking unexpected detours again.