Detective Conan and Magic Kaito characters, settings, and ideas do not belong to me but to Aoyama Gōshō.

TMPD Antics

By Taliya

LXXIX: Kudou and Hattori

Both Heiji and Shinichi stared at the body being bagged up by the forensics team. There had been a kitchen knife sticking out of her back, and her expression had been frozen into one of utter shock. The two had deduced that her younger sister had been the murderer, as she had been convinced that the older sister had stolen her boyfriend from her, when in reality she and the man had never dated.

Heiji rubbed the bridge of his nose, feeling a tension headache build behind his eyeballs. "Man, it's it time to go home yet?" he grumbled tiredly. The pair of them shuffled out of the apartment, sliding into Shinichi's gunmetal Aston Martin Vanquish with identical sighs. Shinichi started up the car and maneuvered them into traffic, their destination police headquarters. Heiji leaned back into the leather chair, closing his eyes for a moment.

"Hey, Hattori," Shinichi began, and though the hesitance in his voice interested the Osakan, he kept his eyes closed.

"Yeah, Kudou?"

"What would you do if a known criminal was being hunted down by an organized crime ring?" the Tokyoite asked.

Heiji scoffed. "I'd arrest the lot of them," he answered simply.

"And if the one being pursued had never killed while the group had?"

The question had Heiji cracking an eye open to stare at his friend. "You referring to KID?" It was only then that Heiji realized how tightly Shinichi had gripped the steering wheel—his knuckles were white with tension. "Hey, ease up on the wheel. It's not going to run away from you, you know."

Shinichi barked a huff of mixed embarrassment and amusement. "I didn't even notice," he remarked, and the comment made Heiji mentally sit up because Shinichi never "didn't notice" anything.

"What's eating you, Kudou?" he asked bluntly, eyes attentively watching his friend.

The Tokyoite sighed. "I received a request from Kaitou KID asking for my help in taking down a crime syndicate," he began. He ran a hand through his hair, ruffling the strands. "They've been sniping at him during some of his heists for years now."

The Osakan straightened, his tiredness forgotten. "So why haven't we heard about it until now?" he demanded, and suddenly Shinichi's weariness from the past couple days made sense. It must have weighed rather heavily on him to know that a good friend's alter ego was being targeted by an organization with both firepower and the desire to use it. "So what's the plan?"

Shinichi blinked and shot Heiji a somewhat incredulous glance. "That's it?" His voice was tinged with perplexed amazement. "You're not going to ask for details?"

Heiji settled back into the chair. "Kudou, if there's one thing I've learned working with you for years, it's that you are meticulous in your planning. If Kaitou KID of all people is entrusting you to help plan this sting operation, then I think I'm in good enough hands. You just have to tell me when, where, and what to do when the time comes." He grinned at Shinichi, who was by this point, gaping. "Besides, between the two of us, you're the one with the experience with organized crime units, right?"

Shinichi groaned. "Don't remind me," he muttered, and Heiji knew he was recalling the days he had been called "Edogawa Conan."

Author's Note: It really is a beautiful thing to see just how deep Shinichi and Heiji's trust in each other run. Makes me want to hug them both. And a wonderful birthday to my darling Kaito. I hope you enjoyed it.

Completed: 19.06.2016