Nayru's Note: As some of you probably suspect by the fairly late update, I got a little stuck on the plot of this story. But I think I've figured out the bigger part of it by now. I wanted to thank Sin-Shira for a lot of brainstorming sessions and for keeping me motivated to continue working on the whole thing - and the same goes to you, readers. Thanks for sharing all of your thoughts with me so far, I really appreciate that. :3

~4 Idiots In A Closet~
Chapter 14: Strawberry-flavored lollipops

[But I'm serious.
I'm ready for some action.]

Conan stared at the screen of his phone, slightly taken aback by the message that followed their earlier chain of texts.

It was true, Kaito's wound needed to heal properly by now, and wasn't that the deal? Once he got better, he said he'd look into Sera's and Bourbon's apartments (Shinichi's saved mentioning Vermouth's name for later for a reason.) And while he wanted to go through with it, in hopes of finding some kind of lead - be it to the Organization, or be it to answer some questions regarding both of his targets - the whole thing was also making him nervous.

Phantom thieves were not to be underestimated - especially this one, he knew that - but Kaito wouldn't be dealing with normal people, and the whole thing always had a chance to go haywire.

[Hold onto that thought.
Would it be okay for me to drop by tomorrow?]

Conan would just have to trust him on this, he supposed. He didn't want to back out of the whole thing all of a sudden, especially since he was the one who brought it up in the first place, and he was sure Kaito would want to change his mind, even if he did have a change of heart. But they still needed to discuss the details, and Shinichi was positive neither of them wanted to do it over the phone.

[Awesome. Want to pick me up after school?]

A tempting idea, actually. But…

[What about Hakuba?]

Saguru was in Kaito's class, meaning that they ended school together. And if the blond saw him in front of the building, he'd know something was up - and considering, he'd possibly want to join them. They already agreed on the fact that bringing up the topic in front of Hakuba would be a bad thing, since they were about to break the law a bit and all.

[Oh. Right. At 3 in front of my house, then.
Unless you'd like me to leave you the keys
under the mat.]

Conan blinked at the text, surprised yet again.

[You honestly trust me enough to do that? Or
did you suddenly forget that I'm a detective?]

['Yes' to the first.
'Couldn't forget if I tried' to the second.]

[I really wonder how your brain works sometimes…]

[Clearly in ways critics shall never understand.
I'll gladly keep it that way:)]

Typical, Kid. Shinichi would lie if he said that it wasn't a nice kind of surprise, though.

The next day, Kaito woke up to the house being empty. His mother didn't even tell him when she was supposed to have her plane, but then again she always did everything at her own pace, and apparently this time wasn't any different. She was honestly like a cat in that regard… A cat that always did what it wanted and couldn't be tamed by anyone.

Well, he was sure he'd get some kind of message from her via the internet eventually.

With a sigh, Kuroba jumped into his school uniform and grabbed a toast he prepared for himself in a hurry, bracing himself mentally for the day to come. Meeting with Shinichi was one thing, but he had another encounter waiting for him in line to deal with first… One he was somewhat nervous about. And one he couldn't really avoid.

Kaito kept telling himself that if Aoko did remember anything regarding the accident with the 'painting' and what was there to see behind it, he'd already have this encounter yesterday, with the girl from next door coming running to him with fists (or dual mops) up in the air. Either that, or his house would be already up in flames or something. Nothing of the sort happened, so he tried to be positive about this and kept hoping…

Poker face in check, he waited in front of the Nakamori household. They both tended to walk to school together on a normal day, so it wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary.

"Kaito!"

The way Aoko called out his name made him cringe inwardly a little. That wasn't a 'it's good to see you' Kaito. It was a 'YOU!' Kaito. Which… could mean a lot of things.

"… Hey. How are you feeling?"

Kuroba forced a smile, wanting to act natural, as his childhood friend ran out of the house and approached him. He didn't even try to contact her for all of yesterday, and was both somewhat relieved and a little worried that she didn't do the same in regards to him.

"We have some talking to do, mister!"

… Exactly because of that reason. Aoko was mad with him about something, that much was obvious. What was she actually mad about, though… Kuroba tried not to let his inner panic get to him. The moment of truth was upon him.

"… Do we?" He gave her a weak, unsure chuckle.

That's when a fierce finger was almost shoved in his face.

"You spiked the drinks!"

Kaito blinked at her, his forced smile giving way to slight confusion instead. He was prepared for questions he already prepared all kinds of lies and explanations for, and… Was that what she was mad about?

"… I spiked the drinks," he admitted, a little unsure, watching the frown on Aoko's face grow.

"You're horrible!" She yelled at him. "You know how bad I am with alcohol!"

Yeah, he knew. It didn't take a genius to figure that out after their little mission, when they retrieved the Legendary Cue back for Jii-chan. "Well, I was careful with yours…"

The girl gave him a suspicious look. "Were you, really?"

Kuroba blinked some more, not sure if he should push his luck with this or not. "How much do you actually…"

"Were you the one who got me home?" Aoko cut him off with a question of her own, answering some of his while at it. Kuroba wondered if that meant that she didn't remember anything? Seriously?

"Do you remember why I got you home?"

"I probably passed out somewhere under the table because a certain someone spiked my drinks!"

Kaito sighed, suddenly feeling like an idiot for having worried about the whole thing so much. He swore this girl would be the death of him someday.

"I brought you home because you fell and hit your head," he explained, his voice a little softer now that he wasn't on the verge of freaking out. "I was worried you'd kill yourself if we'd take our eyes off of you for another second." The magician raised an eyebrow at her. "And don't tell me you don't even remember how the drinks went official and I started making more fancy ones? The Blue Kamikaze? Does that even ring a bell?"

Judging from Aoko's widening eyes, it did, as apparent comprehension sunk in. "Oh my God… You're right!"

"The King's Game afterward?" He continued, unmoved by her reaction.

"The King's… Oh my God, Akako-chan…" Apparently more impacting bits of realization hit her hard. "Akako-chan k-k…"

"She kissed you, yes," Kaito helped her out. "You were pretty upset about it later on."

Kuroba's words clearly just made everything worse for Aoko's brain. He could see a blush spreading along her pale cheeks in a matter of seconds, her eyes widening even more in embarrassment as she stared at some random spot at the street before her.

He was about to pat her on the shoulder and tell her she was worrying about silly things too much when she suddenly straightened and jumped in what seemed like newly found determination.

"W-Well, it doesn't count if it's with a girl!"

Her yell didn't sound convincing at all. Kaito wasn't about to point that out, though, figuring that going along with that kind of logic had a better chance to make her feel better about the whole thing.

"If that's what you think…"

He looked at her, and she stared back, expression a little unsure. And then something seemed to blow up in her. Placing her hands on her hips in an almost aggressive gesture, Aoko announced: "It's what I think!"

And then, as fast as her determination came, it was gone as quickly the next moment as further realization hit her.

"Oh, no… I'll be seeing Akako-chan at school in a moment!" Aoko buried her face in her hands, trying to hide away the blush that was spreading along her cheeks like wildfire again. "What am I supposed to tell her?"

Kaito blinked, trying not to look like he pitied her a bit. "I don't think she cares that much, you know."

"B-But…"

"Aoko, it was just a silly kiss that came up because of a silly game," he assured. "It wasn't anything serious."

"Not anything serious…" Aoko repeated the words, as if she was wondering if that kind of logic was good or not. "Kaito, you… carried me home, didn't you?"

The sudden change of topic made him blink for a different reason this time. "… Yeah?"

"Did I… say anything weird to you during that time?" The question was careful, and it managed to send Kaito a bit on edge. Not that he had any intention of showing that.

"Like what?"

"Like…" Aoko turned to look him in the eyes again, clearly uncertain if she wanted to continue her thought. Kuroba had the weird feeling she was trying to test the waters and see if he'd help her out or not.

For a moment there, he was tempted.

"You were mostly lamenting about your kiss with Akako," he shrugged.

"My first kiss with Akako," the girl corrected.

"Your… first kiss with Akako," Kuroba went along with it, definitely not missing the hint. At that point, it was pretty clear that she remembered more than she led to believe at first.

"And…"

'Tell you what… If you're going to remember any part of this conversation, feel free to ask me about it tomorrow again.'

Despite his somewhat tipsy state, Kaito was pretty sure he remembered clearly what he said back then. And there was a point to his words - it was something that was entirely up to Aoko. If she didn't remember, he wouldn't remind her. If she remembered, but didn't want to admit that she did, for whatever reason, he wouldn't bring it up, either.

He wouldn't go back on his word, in the off-chance that she would ask him about it again, but he had no intention of digging that hole under himself on his own… as much as he'd actually like to. He knew that he shouldn't, for a lot of reasons.

They fell into a stretching silence as they stared at each other.

"I don't even remember it," Aoko finally admitted with an embarrassed, slightly apologetic smile. "That must have been so silly."

Which probably meant that she was either scared to bring it up, or… she simply didn't want to make things awkward between them? Which was fair enough. Kuroba wasn't about to push it, especially when he wasn't feeling very confident in regards to the whole thing himself.

This was a good outcome.

"Yeah, getting you drunk turned out quite entertaining so far," Kaito admitted with a teasing smirk, breaking the tension between them.

"Meanie!" Aoko pointed her tongue at him, the air about her shifting as well. "Come on, we're going to be late for school!"

"I feel like I shouldn't even ask," Haibara announced in that bored, unamused voice of hers, as she took a seat by her desk, right next to him. "But I'm kind of curious."

They were in class, the lesson about to start any minute now. Conan just gave Ai a skeptic look, having no idea what she was trying to get at all of a sudden. "… What are you talking about?"

He knew her teasing looks all too well, and this one wasn't one of them. She seemed surprisingly serious when she asked: "When was the last time you looked into a mirror?"

Shinichi blinked at her, not entirely sure what to make of that question. But the suggestion was obvious, and it was mostly his own curiosity that made him get up and run for the bathroom, hoping he'd be able to return before the lesson started.

He didn't. And it was the least of his worries at that point.

It took just one look into the mirror to make Conan understand what was wrong. His right ear was all red at the lower side, and a little puffy at that - and if one looked closely enough, there was a distinct bite mark to be found on the lobe, which was probably the cause of the whole abnormality.

He didn't remember his ear looking this way in the morning, when he barely woke up and brushed his teeth in front of the mirror back at the agency. … Was this some kind of allergic reaction to Akako's bite? Why would it surface now, after a whole day of nothing?

"So, care to explain?" Haibara interrupted his thoughts the moment Shinichi took a step back into the corridor. She was waiting for him, leaning against the wall with hands crossed in front of her chest, which was so typical of her. Apparently he wasn't the only one skipping class today. "Don't tell me your thief did that to you. Because that's definitely not a dog bite."

Way for Haibara to be too observant for his comfort. "It's not," Shinichi assured, uncertain if he should lie about the whole thing or just simply go ahead and tell her the truth. Experience told him the first option rarely ended well, though. He sighed. "One of Kid's friends is at fault. It happened back at the party we've been to the day before yesterday, with Hattori."

"One of Kid's friends had bitten you," Ai deadpanned, raising an eyebrow.

"We were playing the King's Game," Shinichi explained, feeling smaller under Haibara's judging and disbelieving gaze. And before she could even comment on that: "Shut it."

"That so? Sounds like you had fun," the girl smiled, and this time the teasing expression on her face surfaced, which the small detective obviously wasn't happy about.

"Yeah, that depends on your idea of fun," Conan pressed fingers against his eyelashes, rubbing at them tiredly. "I know I should have probably mentioned it to you earlier, but… The worst part of it is that I was Shinichi back at the time."

That got Haibara to straighten up, her smile disappearing immediately. "Come again?"

"Kid spiked the drinks without anyone's knowledge. Which… made me change back for a bit," he explained. "That's when the bite happened."

"And if it wasn't for your traitorous ear, you wouldn't tell me about this at all?" Haibara crossed her arms again, the air around her becoming even more grave than before.

"Sorry," Shinichi sighed, not even trying to hide that he was feeling displeased about the whole thing himself. "It just seemed so stupid, considering it happened by mistake…"

Then again, his first change - courtesy of the Baijiu Hattori gave to him - happened by mistake, as well. The truth of the matter was that he was simply somewhat embarrassed to bring it up. That whole party was one big mess, and he'd be a lot happier if Haibara wouldn't know about even half of the things that happened back there…

"Details, Kudo-kun," Ai demanded. "I want to hear all of it."

Yeah… He wouldn't have the luxury of keeping it all to himself, apparently.

Kaito pretended to be occupied with his tablet during the break after their first lesson while he observed Akako's movements from the corner of his eye. He was right about her kiss with Aoko not being much of a deal to her, at least, and he was somewhat glad that she found it in herself to explain that much to his distressed childhood friend in a fairly comforting way.

On the second break, Akako made her way towards Hakuba's desk, though. Kaito wasn't sure what she wanted from the blond, nor what they ended up talking about, but the moment the witch threw the magician a rather smug, provoking look, clearly aware that she was being observed, it made all kinds of alarms go off in his head.

The message was clear - she was displeased with the fact that Kid hadn't paid her a visit yet. Was she actually expecting him yesterday? Some consideration for their hangovers would have been nice, honestly. And approaching Saguru needed to be some kind of punishment, probably her way of telling Kaito that the longer he waited, the worse it would get.

He had three options, then. Either ignore it for now, try to drag Akako away from Hakuba and talk with her about it again, or…

Kuroba pushed himself up from his desk and approached the two in an uncharacteristically serious demeanor.

"Hakuba, I need to have a word with you," the magician announced while stuffing his hands into his pockets. He gave Akako a displeased look and tried not to feel only more annoyed with the way she smirked at him.

Saguru looked up at him with puzzlement, undoubtedly noticing the grave air around him, and after a moment of silence finally made his decision to stand up as well. "Certainly?"

Kaito dragged Hakuba up to the roof, figuring it would be the safest place for a private conversation. And once he was sure nobody followed them…

"Look… I know this might be a weird request, but…" The thief started, not really sure how much he should - or actually could - tell him. "Could I ask you to stay away from Akako for a while?"

Saguru stared at him with a neutral expression, then crossed his hands before his chest. "Not until you give me a valid reason why I should do that."

Yeah… Kuroba would be damned if things had turned out to be that easy. "… I take it that asking you to simply trust me on this one won't really do the trick, huh?"

"Hardly," the answer was firm, a hint of irritation suddenly tinting the blond's voice. "And I suppose we should finally use the opportunity to talk about this, now that it's been brought up."

Kaito wasn't sure what to expect after that kind of comment, but he decided to listen, watching the detective straighten before he continued.

"What is going on between you two, Kuroba? You've been acting weird throughout the whole party. You keep whispering to yourselves when you think nobody is looking. It turned out that she even assisted you in a heist… Am I to believe you suddenly realized that you're more interested in Koizumi-san than in Aoko-kun?"

The magician blinked in surprise - or more like in mild horror, actually - baffled that the other would even suspect him of such a thing. "Whoa, there… you are so getting the wrong idea."

Saguru didn't budge, hardly impressed with the answer. "Am I?"

"It's not like that," Kuroba insisted, trying to sound more firm this time.

"Why do you want me to stay away from her, then?"

The question, as valid as it was, made Kaito plant a hand in his own face and drag it along his cheek, as if he was suffering from just thinking about it.

"Okay, look… There are things about her that I can't tell you about. It's… somewhat similar to why I can't tell people about my other identity." He had no idea if Saguru would take his word for it or even understand that, but it was worth a try. "She'd probably have my head for it, if I did," he added. "But believe me when I say that Akako is not a good person. She's up to something, and you're… sort of the target for it."

Well, if anything, that made Hakuba frown. "… Excuse me?"

"She wants to get to me… well, get to Kid, if we want to be more specific… through you, right now," Kuroba explained with a defeated sigh. "If that makes any sense."

"Get to you?"

"It's complicated," the thief went on. "We're sort of like… friendly enemies, on shaky grounds. Hell, I don't even know what we are. One time she wants my demise, the other she helps me out, instead. Sometimes I think she's just crazy."

Hakuba blinked at him, as if trying to let the information settle in his head properly, and Kaito could almost imagine the cogs turning. "Wait, you're not implying…" There was disbelief in the blond's voice all of a sudden. "You're trying to protect me from her?"

Not a bad deduction, Kaito thought to himself. "I've been trying to protect a lot of people from her, to be honest."

"And you invited her to the party."

"I thought she'd behave," the magician shrugged. "My bad."

Saguru stared at him intently, almost as if he was trying to decide whether he believed what Kuroba was saying to be true or not. "Is she a criminal?"

That made Kaito go still, mainly because he hadn't expected to be asked such a thing. Thinking about it, he shouldn't have been surprised, though. He was careful with his next words. "No… I don't think she is, at least." Even though she did try to kill him, once. But that was in the past now, or so Kuroba hoped.

For what it was worth, it seemed to make Saguru relax somewhat, at least. "… You're not just making this all up, are you?"

"I wouldn't lie about something like this." He might have been a good actor when he wanted to, but he gave Hakuba enough credit to be able to tell when he was being serious and when he wasn't. "You remember how I told you about things that couldn't be explained? Like Pandora, or…"

"Kudo-kun's predicament?" The blond finished for him.

"Yeah, that…" The thief gave a slight nod. He wasn't sure how to ask this next part without giving too much away, but… "Hakuba, can you tell if you feel any different when Akako's around?"

"You mean…" It was Hakuba's turn to trail off, and he brought a hand to his face, catching his chin in a contemplative manner. Whatever it was he was thinking about, eventually left him with a frown. "Huh. I actually did find that odd."

"Love at first sight?" The question could have been a teasing one if it wasn't for the serious tone it was asked in. And the surprise on Saguru's face was enough of an answer to it. "I'm pretty sure she's making you feel that way."

There was a careful pause there. "You sound like you're talking from experience."

"Her 'charms' actually don't work on me," Kuroba shook his head. "I have no idea why, though. But I've seen it happening with others, even before you transferred to our class," he explained. "Part of me imagines that's the reason why she's so cranky with me."

"So she's... interested in you, but she can't have you?" Hakuba concluded, and Kaito grimaced at the words, despite not wanting to.

The blond caught the bridge of his nose, as if trying to fight off a headache that was suddenly incoming.

"Kuroba… I should be thrown into a mental institution for even asking this, but… is Koizumi some kind of succubus?"

The magician's expression gave way to surprise this time, and try as he might, he couldn't help but snort at that question. "Not quite," he answered with a bit of amusement. "But I suppose that's close enough, considering."

Give or take, Kuroba still wasn't sure if Hakuba actually believed even part of the whole thing or not, but he was still standing before him and willing to listen instead of kicking him off the roof and calling him crazy. That had to count for something.

"Good grief," was the conclusion he got. It made him smile a little, though he couldn't really blame Saguru for not looking any less confused than he did a minute ago.

"Yeah, the loony bin is upon us."

The bell suddenly rang from downstairs, calling it an end to their break. Kaito jumped in the blond's direction, acting quickly before they could leave.

"Time out, here's the deal: think you could try acting as if you were pissed at me and call me mental for telling you some kind of bullshit? It would be better if Akako didn't know that you know or believe anything I said."

The seriousness in his voice should have been another convincing factor that this wasn't some kind of bluff, and Hakuba looked like he was starting to believe that. "... Alright. Consider it done."

"Thanks," Kuroba nodded before nudging his friend, a sign that they could go back to class.

Before the thief managed to run past him, he's found a hand catching him by the wrist and forcing him to a stop, though. He turned to look back at Saguru with a questioning look, seeing only seriousness in the other's eyes.

"… Has she been blackmailing you with anything?"

Well, Hakuba might have been having trouble in figuring out people's motives, but he was still one hell of a good detective. Kaito shouldn't be surprised that he grew suspicious, after all the hints he's given him throughout their conversation.

"Just try to stay away from her for a few days. Okay?" It was probably an answer in itself, but... "I have a plan to fix this."

"A plan?" Saguru frowned, looking unsure. "Is there any way I can help?"

"Don't let yourself get wooed away," Kuroba suggested with a tiny smirk. "Buying me time will be help enough."

The magician's phone buzzed somewhere in the middle of class.

[Kaito? You mentioned something about Akako
being weird…]

It was a text from Shinichi. Kuroba would probably freak out less if the name 'Akako' didn't make an appearance in there, especially after the conversation he barely had with a certain half-British detective.

[Are you curious about her or is something up?
Please tell me you're curious and nothing is up…]

[Hate to ruin your dreams.
I think… I might have gotten some Akako cooties.
Or whatever this is.]

Kaito felt like tearing strands of hair out of his head. He was taking it all back - Aoko wouldn't be the death of him, one of these days. That privilege would definitely go to their friendly neighborhood witch.

[Oh, fuck, no… don't tell me…]

[We'll talk about this once I'm at your place.]

Kuroba excused himself from both Hakuba and Aoko the moment their classes ended, claiming that he had something important to take care of and made a run for his house.

He didn't find the small detective in front of it, which either meant that he wasn't there yet, or—

Pulling on the handle, Kaito found the front door of his house to be open, which meant that Conan needed to have used the spare key he's left for him, after all. His suspicions were confirmed when he made his way upstairs and found the person in question, sitting by the table in the kitchen, sipping on something in his mug and reading a book.

"Hey... You didn't have to run all the way here." Shinichi greeted him with a startled blink. "It's not like I'm dying or anything. I helped myself to some coffee, figured you wouldn't mind."

"Let me be the judge of that," Kaito insisted, trying to catch his breath. One never knew with Akako's witchcraft, and neither of his friends knew her like he did, and not in a good way. "Did you wait long?"

"I've actually skipped classes…" Which meant that he's been here since morning? The thief couldn't be more glad for actually getting the idea of leaving that key for him. "It was starting to draw attention and I bailed before Ayumi could start asking me questions I didn't want to give answers to, considering."

Kuroba took a step closer, inspecting the child detective before he noticed what the apparent problem was. Akako had bitten him on the ear during the King's Game back at the party, and it was showing in a quite worrying way. Forget Ayumi - if Ran saw it...

"Think you can do something about it?"

"If Akako did this on purpose, I'm going to kick her so hard, she's going to end up on the moon," Kaito growled. "Does it hurt?"

"A little bit," Conan murmured. "Mostly when I touch it."

"Don't move."

Kuroba unceremoniously threw his bag to the ground and ran for the bathroom, only to come back with a set of cosmetics Shinichi couldn't even begin to recognize, let alone name. And before he could find it in himself to complain, a set of hands dragged him upwards, setting him on top of the table, right next to the mug he just drank from. He was more eye-level with Kaito this way, even if the thief still had to lean down a bit to work on his ear, but he supposed it worked.

Kaito got a few strands of loose hair back behind his ear so that it wouldn't be getting in the way, before he inspected the bite more closely. Conan tried not to wince when his earlobe was being caught in-between two cold fingers and pulled on a bit. Whatever it was that Kuroba wanted to check, he hoped it wouldn't take him long.

That's when Shinichi noticed something else, being so close to the thief.

His own hand reached out to the other before he even knew it, settling on the magician's earlobe and returning the gesture. He didn't really care to be as gentle, though, and his own inspection resulted with something - concealer? - getting on his fingertips.

"You have your ears pierced," Conan worded out his discovery, wondering how the hell did he even consider for it to be any different, with Kid's tendency to disguise as women. Did that mean Kaito kept them concealed every day, though?

"Cat's out of the bag. Are you even surprised?" Kuroba chuckled, and Shinichi could suddenly feel something soft starting to tickle his abused ear, which probably meant that the thief was finally starting his work on it. "I did mention that I'm a perfectionist."

"Heh." Kaito didn't seem to complain, so he kept rubbing further. "Two... Three holes in one ear?"

"Four, actually," the magician corrected. "One more's on the upper part."

The more he knew. Kid was definitely an interesting creature. "You made all of those on your own?"

"Half of them." Shit, that thing tickled; it was hard to concentrate. "My mother helped me with the first two."

"Phantom Lady piercing Kaitou Kid's ears…" Conan mused with a bit of dry humor. "The mental images continue."

Kuroba chuckled. "I'm happy to deliver."

"Did it hurt?"

"Hmm…" He could see the magician grin from the corner of his eye. "Want to find out for yourself?"

The question made Shinichi jerk away instinctively, a hand reaching up to shield the ear that was at Kaito's mercy since a minute by now.

"Easy," Kuroba only laughed. "I wouldn't—"

"Mirror. Now."

"Chill out. I'm not finished yet—"

"Mirror, or I'm not letting you do anything anym—"

Was that the sound of the front door opening? That was definitely the sound of the front door opening, and why was this happening in this cursed house all the time—

"—Shit." Kaito abruptly caught his wrist and pulled his hand away, leaving a handkerchief - where was he getting them from all the time? - in his palm. "Here, rub it off."

"The hell did you…" He should have known. Had Kuroba been… drawing something on his ear?! Why were these smudges blue?! For fuck's—

"Mom?" Shinichi stilled at Kaito's questioning voice, vaguely seeing the other straighten up. "What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be in Las Vegas by now?"

Kuroba Chikage - the mother that's found them together in bed along with Hakuba and Hattori yesterday - was standing before them in the kitchen.

"Oh, dear…" The woman brought a hand to her face, trying to look surprised. "I seem to have missed my plane."

Was that supposed to sound troubled? Because Chikage sounded anything but. If Shinichi found that obvious, he was sure Kaito didn't buy it for a second.

"Missed your—?" Kuroba almost choked on his own tongue, the disbelief was so great. "How does one even miss their plane!"

"Now, now… no harm done. I don't mind staying with you for another day or two." His mother waved a hand, urging him to calm down. "Would you like some pancakes for dinner?"

"You did this on purpose, didn't you…" Kaito's voice was suddenly boarding on what sounded oddly like suspicion laced with contempt. "Making me think you'd be already gone just to make me… ugh, how didn't I see this coming?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry, did I interrupt your date?" Conan noticed the woman looking in his direction for the first time, which made him go even more still and lost how he should act. "Were you playing makeup? If I had known you wanted to get some alone time with your…"

"Mom, I explained it to you like ten times by now," Kuroba sounded horrified this time around. "I am not dating anyone! And you should get your eyes checked! Are you honestly implying I would—"

"You're Conan-chan, aren't you?" Chikage ignored her son and approached Conan before she leaned towards him with a smile. "Kaito told me so much about you."

"Um, did he…?" Shinichi just kept rubbing on his ear with the handkerchief, finding it to be the only plausible option for now. He vaguely hoped that whatever artistic abomination had appeared on it would come off easily enough. "It's... a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Kuroba-san."

"So well mannered~" The woman was clearly delighted. "Please, call me Chikage."

"… Chikage-san." Ah, Conan remembered the name. When Kaito woke up back at his house after the heist in which Kid got shot and called Jii-chan with his phone, the name also fell from his lips. So he meant his mother back then.

"Mom—"

"And he did, he did. I heard you helped him out when he got into trouble and that's how you two became close." Kaito yelled another 'mom' to get her attention and make her stop, but she continued to ignore it. "It's so nice to see my son finally reaching out to others, he's never brought anyone home beside Aoko-chan before."

"Too much information, mom. Thanks for your unnecessary input," Kuroba grumbled, and Conan swore he's never heard their friendly thief sound this irritated and out of sorts before. "Now if you'll excuse us, we have something important to talk about."

"So it's called talking nowadays, is it?"

"Mom!" Kaito almost shrieked. "For the love of—"

Before either of them knew it, Chikage took out a small, plastic bag from somewhere and not-so-discreetly shoved it into her son's hands. "Here, these are for you."

"What the—" Kuroba peeked into the bag he's just received, looking as if he couldn't believe this was happening. "You did not just—"

"I hope you've taken our earlier conversation to heart, Kaito. Having fun is important, but always remember to stay safe~" Chikage smiled and winked at the both of them. "I'll be downstairs if you need me. Let me know once you get hungry."

And with that, she was off, leaving both Kaito and him staring at her disappearing figure in disbelief.

"Did she just…"

"She did," whatever the question was, Kuroba seemed to agree with him on the spot. And then the magician peeked into the plastic bag again, making Shinichi wonder what was actually in it. … Probably nothing good, if Kaito's reaction was anything to go by. "I don't even… Am I supposed to laugh? Or cry?"

Did he really want him to answer that? "You know, I think that our mothers are… somewhat alike."

"I think mine is less sane than yours is, despite everything."

"Well, you had to get the 'crazy' from someone."

"Okay… I will laugh," Kuroba decided, as if that was even something that could be decided to begin with. True to his word, he snorted the next moment, and actually sounded like he meant it. One of the thief's hands dived into the bag and fumbled around in it, the sound of ruffling foil starting to echo throughout the kitchen. "You want a lollipop?"

"A lo…" Shinichi blinked in confusion, then faltered when Kaito placed something in his other, free hand.

It turned out to be a square-shaped wrapper. One that… definitely wasn't a lollipop. It might have been strawberry-flavored - or at least that's what the label on it said - but—

The realization of what he was actually holding caught him off-guard, and Conan flailed around the item with a startled sound, almost dropping it to the floor. Thankfully, he composed himself enough in time to catch it more properly with both of his hands, letting the handkerchief fall on top of the table he was still sitting on, instead.

As Kuroba stared at him with an amused smirk, Shinichi couldn't help but blush, immediately hating himself for it.

He's never held a condom in his hand, wrapped or otherwise - because he never had the need nor the opportunity to do so before - and frankly, he felt embarrassed with all the obvious implications that went along with it. … Courtesy of Kuroba's crazy mother, no less.

"We were supposed to laugh and you look like a deer caught in the headlights," Kaito commented with amusement. "Didn't know you were that much of a kid."

Of course, Kuroba could control himself enough to make it look like he wouldn't be embarrassed by such things so easily and use the opportunity to tease him with it. Damn him.

"And that's coming from Kid," Shinichi grumbled, deciding to stare daggers at the treacherous item in his hands, like this was all its fault.

Kaito's amused grin grew, becoming more Kid-like. "That's such a bad pun."

"And that's the dirtiest joke I've heard from you." Because strawberry-flavored lollipops. Right. Now he couldn't get his mind out of the gutter, and it was all Kaito's fault.

"Well, you partially got me into this mess. Let us share the responsibility," Kuroba hummed. "I still have eleven more."

"I didn't spike my own drinks, thanks," Conan finally straightened, trying to compose himself, though the grumpy edge to his voice stayed. "And not to ruin your fun, but I believe either you, Hakuba or Hattori would have more use for these than I would… for obvious reasons."

"They'll be getting their share, too, don't worry." There was some kind of evil promise in his words there, Shinichi could tell. "And never say never, Shin-chan~ You never know when you might change back again—"

"Stop. Just stop."

"You're so cute when you're embarrassed."

"I'm leaving."

Kuroba laughed. "You know I'm just joking, right?"

Shinichi made an irritated grumbling noise, then yelped as mischievous hands caught onto his sides and he was being lifted up in the air despite his will.

"Come on, let me make it up to you. Both for this and… your ear," Kaito hesitated with the ear part, and Shinichi damn well hoped he saw his mistake in that, because— "I know you've been curious about it since the party. And we can talk there about the whole thing regarding Sera-chan without my mom overhearing, at least."

Conan stilled and blinked, trying to process what Kaito was hinting at. Did he understand that right? Was he about to take him to…?

[I've been there first. 8P]

Saguru blinked at the message he's received. Kudo-kun and him didn't text that often - when they did, it was mostly regarding something tied in with the topic of Sherlock Holmes, or something business-like. So the vague message got him a little confused. Unless this was supposed to be some kind of riddle...

[Elaborate, Kudo-kun?]

[The legendary secret hideout.]

Kaito had some 'important business to attend to,' after school, did he. Oh, if he could send an evil look through the screen of his phone, both Kuroba and Kudo would be getting one right about now.

[… Traitor.]

Why did Saguru feel more amused than angry with this was beyond him. Maybe his earlier conversation with Kudo-kun in the morning, after the party, had something to do with it.

Nevertheless, this wouldn't be the last they've heard of him. It was on.

—t.b.c.

Nayru's Note: Two things:

1. I hate this chapter for the fact that I got stuck working on it for a whole month. It's also a bit too serious for my taste. 8( That's my opinion and feelings, at least, I guess I'll let you guys be the judge whether it's as dull as I think it is. I'll sit here and keep telling myself that it was needed for the plot and shit and just wanted to carry on with it already. More exciting things are bound to be happening soon.

2. A couple of chapters back, I decided not to include pairing drama in this story. While plotting my evil plots, I came to a bunch of conclusions and - sadly or not - I might have changed my mind on the matter again. I am aware that half of the readers will be most likely happy about this, while the other half won't… But. I won't spoil anything more than that, and all I shall ask is that you simply trust me on this one - I think I figured out enough that I know what I'm actually doing and I promise happy endings and good feels on the longer run, nevertheless. Sit back and have fun figuring out where the story takes us. ;3