There was one moment during the train ride to Ekoda where Conan's excitement settled just long enough for his thoughts to catch up to him. Which was very uncomfortable, as it forced him to consciously acknowledge that, yes, he was, in fact, about to spend the day with an internationally renowned criminal whose favorite hobby was embarrassing people. And worse, he was apparently looking forward to it.

But such bothersome thoughts were no match against his logical reasoning. He'd already thought a lot about the flirting and eventually concluded that it was nothing more than the new form of their long-standing rivalry, now that they couldn't banter about jail anymore. And going to Kaito's house today really did make sense; who knew what trouble the crazy thief might get himself into if left unsupervised? And Conan didn't have anything better to do right now anyway, so it was fine.

He didn't hesitate again until he was outside the Kuroba house with his fist already poised to knock. Somehow, he'd forgotten until that moment that Chikage would be the one to answer the door. The realization was almost enough to make him turn around and go home, but he would rather not waste the train ticket. So he gritted his teeth, summoned his courage, and knocked.

Chikage did indeed come to the door, and she was, in fact, not happy to see him. But she wasn't surprised either, and, after a long pause just short of being rude, she stepped aside to let him in. He tried to give her a polite smile as he removed his shoes, but mostly he just shuffled awkwardly around her and into the living room.

All of his unease evaporated upon rounding the corner and watching Kaito absolutely light up the room with a burst of joy at seeing Conan.

"Tantei-kun, you came! I knew you loved me~" he beamed at Conan from within a very cozy-looking pile of blankets on a reclined section of the couch. He was pale, with bags under his eyes showing that the cumulative exhaustion from the last few days (and his life in general) had finally caught up to him.

"You look awful," Conan greeted him dryly, hoping that the dumb thief wouldn't get any weird ideas from Conan's answering smile. It wasn't his fault that Kaito's enthusiasm was always so contagious!

"What a wild coincidence, I feel pretty awful too," he answered with a cheeky grin. "And I'm really high on painkillers and stuff. Getting shot is so tedious."

"True," Conan agreed as he settled on the opposite end of the couch. How long did he usually spend in the hospital whenever he was shot, stabbed, or otherwise nearly killed? Honestly, he was surprised Kaito was even this active.

"Can't sit there~" Kaito chided. Conan looked up in confusion, so Kaito gave him a knowing, amused smirk and explained, "That's Mom's spot."

Not even a swarm of angry bees could've made Conan jump out of the seat faster. His panicked flight must've looked as undignified as it felt, judging by Kaito's snickering, but Conan was just grateful that he'd avoided spraining an ankle when he hit the ground. So he ignored his very unhelpful friend and crossed the room to the armchair.

"Can't see the TV from there," Kaito reminded him.

"Well, where else am I supposed to sit?" he complained.

In response, Kaito lifted his blankets to reveal just enough space on his other side for Conan to squeeze between him and the armrest. Objectively speaking, it was a good option – he could sit on the sofa yet still be protected from Chikage, should she return to claim her spot. But, for some reason that Conan couldn't understand, the prospect made a small knot form in his chest.

Conan eyed the spot sullenly for a moment, then huffed and crossed his arms. "You're making fun of me again."

"Eh? What are you talking about?" he asked, genuinely surprised.

"I told you, it was the nurse's fault that I was next to you the other day!"

"Ah, that. Yes, remind me to send her a personalized thank-you note later, but for now, are you going to come sit down, or will you be an obnoxious brat and force your poor injured friend to move over, despite his many grievous wounds?"

Conan groaned in exasperation. Leave it to the master performer to find the most absurd way to phrase something and then deliver it in such a believably pitiful performance. But, really, this shouldn't be a big deal anyway. He sat next to people on couches all the time – there was no reason to arbitrarily start feeling weird about it now!

"Manipulative bastard," Conan grumbled affectionately as he crawled up into his designated spot on the couch.

"Pushover," Kaito returned with a fond smirk.

The weather was just chilly enough that Conan didn't mind the blanket being tucked around him. But he did tense when Kaito's arm remained to circle Conan's shoulders and gently tug him to lean against his chest.

"Hey, I'm traumatized, remember?" Kaito insisted in response to the guarded look Conan directed at him. "Remember? Because of all that trauma and scary stuff and whatever? You can't just rescue somebody halfway and then leave them hanging, you know! This is part of your ongoing responsibility to make sure I'm properly rescued."

"That's really the best you can come up with?" Conan answered flatly. "You think you can get away with anything you want by acting like a scared little child?"

"Look who's talking," Kaito reminded him, sensibly, which made Conan scoff and duck his head in embarrassment. Because, yeah, fair point. "Ah, which reminds me," he continued, "I have a few work-related questions for you."

"Ok. What do you want to know?" Conan didn't miss how the change of topic definitely played in Kaito's favor, but he reasoned that answering questions about their very real and dangerous work was more important right now.

"So, first off, why are you small?"

"…good question. Basically, I was force-fed an experimental drug."

"Huh. Ok. Weird. Next question, who's 'Vermouth'? And why did Snake lose his tiny little mind when you mentioned her?"

"She's a powerful agent in the BO. She has similar disguise capabilities as you."

"Does she really have the same fingerprints as her mom?"

"That's what the FBI said. Nobody knows how, though."

"Are you going to turn big again?"

"That's the plan. Haibara's working on an antidote, but she says she won't be able to complete it until we get samples of the original poison. So when we take them down, we have to make sure we locate and secure their labs."

"Ok, cool. Hey, why did Nakamori-keibu think I escaped on my own?"

"Wow, can you stick to one topic at a time? Aren't you usually more focused than this?"

"High on painkillers~! So did you lie to the keibu or what?"

"We may have… edited a few details of the police report. But only out of necessity! The BO has spies in the police department, and we need to control what information they get when they read the report."

"Kekekeke, I have a job where I get to lie to the police, and they can't get mad at me for it!" Kaito giggled. It was a ridiculous yet strangely endearing laugh, and Conan couldn't help but smile. He wondered how much of this was due to the painkillers and how much was just Kaito's natural goofiness.

"Hey hey, do I get paid for being a secret agent?" he continued, still happy but with his words beginning to blur with drowsiness.

"I— …huh. I don't know. Your contract should've mentioned that, right?"

"Oh, I have no idea, I didn't read a word of it."

"…that sounds like a personal problem."

"What about you? Aren't you getting paid?"

"No, of course not."

"Tsk, you just need a better agent. Hmm, maybe I'll negotiate a nice big deal for you later so that you can be rich," he muttered sleepily.

"Sure, sure," Conan answered fondly.

"Hey, who are my new coworkers?"

"Lots of people. Me, my parents, the Professor, Haibara, other detectives such as Hattori and Hakuba, a few officers from Division One, the FBI, the CIA, possibly a woman from MI6 if we can get her to cooperate…" Conan trailed off, partly because he'd run out of fingers to count on, and partly because Kaito had fallen asleep, his head drooping subtly to rest against Conan's.

Conan heaved a soft sigh. Well, he certainly couldn't insist on adequate personal space now that it would risk disturbing his friend's sleep. Not that this was much of a surprise. For all of Kaito's skill at improvisation, the thief also put staggering amounts of time into planning everything three steps ahead. This situation was no different. Everything, from the amount of space Kaito had left for him to the placement of the armchair, was clearly deliberate.

The excuse about being traumatized was an obvious lie, but it was equally obvious that Kaito did want him close for whatever reason, even to the point of setting this up and then forcing himself to stay awake until Conan arrived. Conan didn't know Kaito's real motives, but if this was somehow helpful to him, then Conan wouldn't deny him. In fact, it felt sort of nice to be able to give something back after everything that Kaito had always done for him.

So, with a small smile, he took the remote control, which was conspicuously left within his reach. As he pondered what to watch, it occurred to him that he could pick whatever he wanted without argument. A flicker of disappointment tugged his heart at that thought, but he ignored it. This was a good thing. He'd been meaning to catch up on Detective Samoji anyway.

—

Kaito slept off and on for most of the day, but Conan only dozed off once in the early afternoon. So, of course, that was precisely when his phone rang. Conan heard the ringtone, groaned at the interruption to his nap, then apparently answered the phone with his usual childlike act.

"Moshi moshi! … Ah, Ran-nee-chan! … Mm! … Yes, I am. …"

Conan felt safe and cozy, and now that the phone call was being taken care of, there was no particular reason for him to be awake, so he let out a sigh of contentment and…

Wait.

He snapped his head up to glare at the idiot moron who had once again stolen his phone and identity.

"Actually, Ran-nee-chan," the fake 'Conan' continued, "I'm having so much fun that I want to stay for a sleepover! Can I? Pleeaase? … Mm! … Yes, I'll put her on." Kaito paused for a moment before switching to his mother's voice. "Hello, Mouri-chan? … Yes, we'd love to have him over. … Of course, he's been perfectly well-behaved. … Alright, we'll be sure to call your father if we run into any murders while he's here! … Thank you, you too!" Then he ended the call and smirked at Conan.

Chikage's voice drifted in from across the house. "Honey? Were you impersonating me again?"

"Yes!" he yelled back, utterly unashamed.

"You're not entering me into any more weird sweepstakes or doing anything that will get my credit card blocked again, are you?"

"No!"

"Ok then," she answered, apparently satisfied.

Conan waited half a moment to be sure Chikage didn't have anything else to say, then demanded of his friend, "What was that about?"

"Please!" Kaito answered in exasperation. "It was one time! We just had to use cash for a few weeks, it was no big deal! But she refuses to ever let me live it down!"

"No," Conan said, then paused to close his eyes and debate whether he wanted to hear the story behind that incident. He shook his head briefly and continued, "I meant, what were you doing with my voice?"

"Huh? You mean besides stealing your phone and lying to your sister while you slept? Nothing at all," he replied, blinking at him as if this were the most reasonable thing in the world.

"You're insane. Like, clinically insane. Have you considered therapy?"

"A bit early to suggest couple's counseling, don't you think, Tantei-kun~?" he answered playfully.

"AH — Wha—?! N-NO! I… Why do you say things like that?!"

"Hmm," he hummed, mock thoughtful. "That sounds like a good question for the therapist! As for me, I'd like to ask them why my beloved Tantei-kun always expresses his love for me through a facade of insults?"

Conan nearly burned his hands using them to cover his flaming red face, and he spluttered incoherently for a moment. Every retort he could think of was too insulting, and therefore a perfect opening for yet more willful misinterpretation. Finally he let out a weary sound of mixed sigh and groan, and conceded, "Well played."

The force of Kaito's radiating joy was almost more disorienting than the teasing, so Conan quickly moved for a change of topic. "So can you imitate any voice you hear?

"All that and more!" he boasted.

"'More'? Like what?"

Kaito adopted a thoughtful expression as if trying to think of an example, when suddenly a cat meowed loudly from the doorway. Since when did the Kuroba's have a cat?! Conan whipped his head around to see it, then pushed himself up to strain to look around the couch. Realization hit him an instant later in the form of Kaito's uncontrollable giggles, and Conan felt his cheeks heat up again.

"Oh, ha ha ha, very funny," Conan scowled at him.

"Not as funny as the fact that we still own a fax machine!"

"You do not own a—"

Well, that certainly sounded like a fax machine, and coming from the other end of the room no less! It took a great deal of willpower to not lean over to verify the lack of a fax machine with his own eyes.

"Ok, ok, I'm impressed. You can stop the sound effects now."

"But it's a really big fax! Probably some boring case files for you or something."

"Idiot. It stops when you talk anyway."

"Yeah, I know… I'm still practicing making both sounds at once, but it's harder than you'd think. So what movie do you want to watch, now that you don't have to go home today? Which, by the way, you still haven't thanked me for!"

—

In mid-afternoon, they were startled by the door slamming open and a furious cry of "Bakaito!"

Conan instinctively hid further beneath the blankets, despite the turtleneck already hiding his injuries. Kaito, meanwhile, flinched slightly at his friend's volume but was ready with a carefree grin when she burst into the room a second later.

"You stupid Kaito, you made Aoko so worried!" she scolded as she approached, then stopped short when she noticed Conan. "Huh? Conan-kun? What are you doing here?" she asked, attempting to hide her anger for his sake.

"Isn't he just the cutest?" Kaito exclaimed happily, hugging Conan for emphasis. "Apparently our moms are friends, so we got asked to babysit for a few days~"

As annoying as the lie was, Conan decided it was easier than the truth, especially since he wasn't entirely sure why he was really there anyway. So he played along with a childish smile for Aoko, who seemed increasingly confused.

"Did I hear Aoko?" Chikage called from the other room as she came to join them. "Why hello, my dear! Oh, you've grown so much since I last saw you! How have you been?"

In stark contrast to Chikage's happy familiarity, Aoko was suddenly guarded by walls of anger and frigid formality. Her gaze snapped to Kaito and held there as if they were having a silent argument with their eyes, then she turned back and plastered on an obviously fake smile for Chikage.

"Hello, Kuroba-san," she said stiffly, "Aoko didn't know you were back. Since you're here to take care of Kaito, Aoko will go home now."

"No, no, don't be a stranger! Please, come join me in the kitchen, I'm sure we have a lot to catch up on," Chikage insisted in a motherly fashion, with welcoming gestures and smiles.

"Aoko has homework to do," she stated, not even attempting to make it sound convincing. She looked at Kaito again and declared in an almost threatening tone, "Talk to you later, Kaito."

"Yeah, yeah," he agreed lightly, waving as she spun on her heel and stormed past Chikage, who stood in shock at the living room entrance.

Kaito only gave a helpless shrug when his mother looked at him, so, with a deep frown, she reluctantly returned to the kitchen. She had spent most of the day there, even more than would be expected from the extravagant meals she kept bringing Kaito. In fact, she almost seemed to be avoiding them, enough so that Conan had begun to wonder what exactly had transpired between her and Kaito behind the scenes.

"What just happened?" Conan asked once they were alone again.

"Who knows? Women are such a mystery," Kaito replied airily.

Conan narrowed his eyes at him. "In other words, you know exactly what happened, and it's entirely your fault."

"Have I ever told you how hot it is when you go into detective mode? It's such a turn on, seriously~"

Conan recoiled in horror, blushing furiously yet again, which was definitely happening way too often around Kaito. He just wished he was more annoyed by it.

—

As evening approached, Conan kept wondering when Kaito would move to his bedroom, which in turn made him start overthinking things because he didn't recall there being a guest room. But as the hours stretched on, Kaito simply fell asleep on the sofa, and Chikage turned off the lights and retreated to her room. So this was just how they would be spending the night, then. In hindsight, it made sense – it was probably more comfortable for Kaito to sleep partially reclined like this given his injuries. Although Conan had mixed feelings about sleeping so close to the magician again, it was too late to do anything about it.

Well, at least it was comfortable. So, resolving to complain about it in the morning, Conan accepted his fate and turned off the TV to try to get some sleep.

And he really would've complained about it too, except that it felt somewhat unfair to do so after waking up from the most relaxing and restful sleep he'd had in a very, very long time. Next time, then.

They watched TV for almost the entire day. Since Kaito was obviously exhausted and in pain, no matter how much he tried to deny it, they decided to just take turns picking movies. It made for a strange mixture of action, mystery, comedy, psychological drama, family, intellectual indie, and even a rom-com (which was not Conan's idea, but it turned out to be a very well produced film so he let it slide with minimal protest).

When Conan insisted on returning home for dinner that evening, Kaito whined and protested and made a ridiculous fuss about 'being abandoned all alone and nobody loves him.' Which Conan thought was maybe a little unfair to Chikage who was literally just in the next room, but the more logic he tried to use, the more the magician played up his alleged broken heart.

By the time Kaito pretended to accept defeat and sighed and said in a tone full of despair, "Fine, but at least let me have a goodbye hug," Conan was willing to give in just to shut him up.

"Pretty sure this is emotional blackmail," Conan mumbled into the hug.

"Then why do you keep coming back for more?" Kaito taunted him. Which, ok, great question. How did this keep happening? Perhaps Conan's head wound was worse than he'd thought? Should he go back to the hospital for a second opinion on it?

And yet, somehow, Kaito still managed to convince him to return again the next day.

—

Conan was shocked the next morning when it was not Chikage but her idiot son who met him at the door.

"Ehh? What are you doing walking around?! Aren't you supposed to be resting?"

"And recovering!" Kaito answered, reaching out to ruffle Conan's hair as he entered. "It's adorable that you're worried about me, but I'm fine! Moving around is part of recovery anyway. Now come on, it's past time you got a tour of the house!"

Conan was still quite dubious, and Kaito had to subtly lean against the wall whenever he wasn't moving, but since the magician was in such good spirits today and also adamantly refused to listen to reason, Conan could only sigh and follow him from room to room in what ended up being the most entertaining house tour he'd ever experienced. Most people just gesture toward the relevant rooms or perhaps mention significant pieces of art. Kaito, ever the master showman, pointed out every stain and scratch and mysterious dent, and told increasingly unlikely stories about how each one came to be.

"Ok, I'm drawing the line at that one. You're just making things up now!" Conan interrupted.

"No, but it's true! Honest! I didn't want to burn the eggs, so I moved the flamethrower out of the way before I could turn it off, and thus we have the kitchen ceiling you see before you today!"

"That's precisely what I'm saying — there is no way you were trying to cook eggs with a flamethrower!"

"It's totally possible, with the right technique! But, in my defense, I was only seven and hadn't yet learned the finer points of the proper handling of flamethrowers.

"That makes it even more unlikely! Why would you have a flamethrower at seven?"

"Oh no, I had the flamethrower since I was five. I just wasn't allowed to help in the kitchen until I was seven! And technically, it wasn't exactly 'my' flamethrower, and it was kept under lock and key at all times, but I learned to pick locks at five, so that's when it became my flamethrower, practically speaking."

"No, it's not possible," Conan insisted, shaking his head. "A flamethrower has too large of a blast radius and would spray diesel everywhere, and besides, the trigger mechanism wouldn't work for what you're describing. Now, maybe this could've happened with a kitchen torch?"

"Oh, Tantei-kun, where's your sense of adventure?" Kaito replied, eyes shining with amusement. "Any tool can be a 'flamethrower' if you use it wrong enough!"

Conan blinked in surprise, found he had no response, so allowed himself to simply laugh and relish the absurdity.

They proceeded through each room of the house like that, until they reached Kaito's room. There he mostly talked about his dad, and Conan wasn't sure whether to laugh at the humor in the stories or offer condolences for the loss. Instead, he just listened without interruption.

"And this is how I found out about Dad being the first KID," Kaito was explaining cheerfully. He raised his hand to the poster, then paused. "Ah, but uh, we don't have to see that room."

"Huh? Why not?" Conan protested. To his surprise, Kaito shifted nervously and a hint of a pout broke through his expression.

"I'm sure you don't want to see it again," he answered, deceptively casual, and gestured for them to leave.

"Hey," Conan interrupted, refusing to allow the distraction and grabbing his friend's hand to prevent his escape. "If this is about your lame attempt at kidnapping again, I already told you, it's fine. I don't mind, really. Come on, show me the room." When Kaito still looked uncertain, Conan grinned and added as an excuse, "I want to see the car again!" Of course he'd already spent plenty of time appreciating the car during his real first visit, but that didn't matter, for nice cars always deserved more appreciation.

The smile he got in return was soft, genuine, full of affection, and lasted only a second until it was replaced with a more generic smirk. Conan bristled internally; it irked him that Kaito still sometimes used masks around him. But he knew that pushing the issue would be counterproductive; he would just have to wait for Kaito to open up on his own.

Kaito started entering the code on the hidden panel, so Conan spoke up in what he hoped was a nonchalant tone. "So what's the password?"

"Eh? You don't know?" Kaito asked in surprise. "You would've needed it to get out before."

"Haibara guessed it, which she enjoys holding over my head. I bet the password is some variation of 'Kaitou KID', right?"

Kaito let out a rich, joyful laugh. "Nope, it's even cooler than that!"

"So?"

He held up one finger and announced, "'There is only one truth'!"

Conan was startled by his own catchphrase being thrown back at him, then he scowled fiercely at the clear implication that he wasn't a good enough detective to deduce the password. "Fine!" he declared. "Don't tell me. I'll figure it out myself!"

"Wh— no, I…" Kaito trailed off, then chuckled and shook his head fondly. "Ok, you do that, Meitantei. I look forward to seeing your face when you get it." Then he opened the door and led him to the car, refusing to let go of Conan's hand until he absolutely had to.

Conan eagerly climbed into the driver's seat, and ran his hands lovingly along the smooth leather of the steering wheel, so lost in admiration that he became temporarily blind to his surroundings. He was only vaguely aware of Kaito watching him from the passenger side, until he caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye of Kaito's expression. But when he snapped his head around to confirm that he was just imagining things, Kaito had already turned away and was innocently adjusting the side mirror.

He frowned and opened his mouth to ask about it when Kaito suddenly gripped the mirror and exclaimed in a panic, "Oh no! They found us! Hurry, Tantei-kun, they're gaining on us!"

Conan spun around in alarm, saw no one and nothing but the wall, quickly swept the rest of the room with his eyes to confirm that they were indeed alone and safe, then huffed out a deep breath, attempted to calm his racing heart, and deadpanned at Kaito.

"What are you waiting for, man?! Drive!" he insisted urgently.

Conan scoffed. Was this some kind of bizarre acting training or something? Kaito, for one, looked as if he truly believed they were in the middle of a dramatic car chase. But then again, the guy was a world-class actor. Well, whatever this was, Conan refused to be outperformed. So he gripped the wheel firmly in both hands and stared resolutely ahead.

"Hold on to something!" he commanded, then they both jerked backwards in response to the pretend acceleration.

"Oi oi, that was a stop sign!" Kaito yelled, pointing out the window and rapidly tracking the stop sign as they 'drove' past it.

"Don't question my methods, I know what I'm doing! It's not like I hit anything! So have we lost our tail yet?!"

"No, and now they've got a gun! Get down!" They ducked in their seats.

"Get out your own gun and aim for their tires while I make the J-turn! Ready? Now!"

Conan jerked the parking brake while spinning the wheel and making pretend tire screech sounds. At the same time, Kaito hung over the edge of his seat with double finger guns and cries of "pew pew pew pew pew!"

"Ok, I think we got 'em, Tantei-kun! Now we just — OH NO reinforcements, one o'clock!"

"I see them!" Conan spun the wheel again, both of them leaning to the side in perfect sync with the imaginary centrifugal force. "That was a close one! Are they still following us?!"

"Yeah, and there's more of them now!"

"I'm going up onto the sidewalk, brace yourself!" And they bumped up and down in their seats as the car 'hit' the curb.

"Tantei-kun, what are we going to do? We're heading straight for that drawbridge that's being raised! We'll never make it in time! Hit the brakes!"

"No good, my feet don't reach the pedals!"

"Oh no we're gonna die!"

"Maybe, but since the trunk is full of supplies for exotic fireworks competitions, at least the explosion will look awesome! Get your hang glider ready!"

They leaned back for the rapid 'drive' up the drawbridge, then abruptly jerked forward as the car 'flipped' over the edge. Conan made some noises and hand gestures to indicate an explosion, then he couldn't contain it anymore and broke down laughing, as did Kaito. The larger teen was leaning over with his head against Conan's shoulder, and Conan rested against him, laughing into the unruly locks of soft hair.

"So you're still pretty high on painkillers then?" Conan asked once he'd caught his breath.

"Yeah…" Kaito sighed through lingering laughter.

"Well, you can stop clinging to me now, since we're not actually flying away from a cool explosion on your hang glider. Creep."

—

After that, Kaito showed him a series of simple magic tricks until he got to one that Conan couldn't solve, a feat all the more impressive with the magician's right arm still in a cast. When Conan insisted on seeing the trick again, Kaito smugly informed him he never performed the same trick twice in one day, so Conan would just have to come back tomorrow.

They played a board game, got caught up in a deep philosophical discussion over what was meant to be a simple question about the rules, then went off on a tangent that had them talking about anything and everything, utterly oblivious to the passage of time.

They never got around to watching another movie.

Conan avoided being hugged that evening, but only by pretending he was just going to the kitchen for some water, then turning around in the hallway and shouting a quick "Good night!" before ducking out the front door. He did feel a little guilty about it, though, especially when he received a text message consisting of a paragraph's worth of broken-heart emojis.

He typed out and deleted several different responses, unsure of what to say. Although his initial reaction was to explain that he hated physical contact and tell him to stop, he worried that Kaito might take it the wrong way and actually stop. Which Conan definitely wanted, of course! But… well, it was just more fun to evade it through their usual battle of wits, he told himself, as he finally settled on an answer.

Shinichi: I outsmarted you, get over it. Better luck next time, dumb thief.

Kaito: oooh sounds like an invitation, challenge accepted!

Kaito: same time tomorrow?

Shinichi: I can't, I have school tomorrow.

Kaito: ok so different time tomorrow! Just come by after school

Shinichi: Don't you have school too? When does your break end?

Kaito: we didn't get a break but there's this nice loophole where you don't have to go to school if you're a super cool secret agent who's recently been shot up by a bunch of bad guys. So make sure you come over after school tomorrow k luv you bye!

Conan groaned in annoyance but still came over after school anyway.

—

"What's that?" Kaito asked when Conan arrived with his school backpack and started pulling papers out.

"My homework. What else?"

"Ooh, long division. How riveting!"

"I know, I know. Being shrunk by an evil organization sucks, alright? School is mind-numbingly boring, but I still have to do the homework if I don't want to get yelled at."

After he finished the math worksheets, he turned around to discover that the rest of his homework had been magically completed as well. He flipped through the pages in astonishment.

"In my own handwriting even?" he observed in wonder. "Are there any skills you don't have?"

"Yes: entertaining myself in ways that don't involve improvised flamethrowers. But now that your homework is done, you can do your part to prevent wildfires! Do you like Mario Kart? Or, more accurately, do you like getting your butt totally kicked in Mario Kart?"

(It turned out he did, much to his chagrin.)

—

Conan really did intend to go back to Kaito's house the next day like he'd agreed to, but he only made it as far as the department store near the train station before someone screamed. His feet carried him toward the source of the scream on instinct, like a moth to light, and he was immediately in case mode.

Several hours later, Satou-keiji and Takagi-keiji arrested the culprit and thanked Conan for his 'really lucky observations that just so happened to help them figure out the trick.' Conan smiled innocently and excused himself from the scene, trying to place the nagging feeling that there was something he'd forgotten. That was when he became aware of his phone vibrating and pulled it out with a guilty grimace.

He wasn't surprised to find fifteen unread messages, but he was surprised by the most recent one.

Kaito: how'd the case go did you catch the bad guy?

Shinichi: How did you know there was a case?

Kaito: lucky guess lol. Catch him yet?

Shinichi: It was a "her" this time, and yes, I did.

Kaito: that's my brilliant Meitantei!

Shinichi: At any rate, it's now too late for me to make it to Ekoda tonight. Sorry.

Kaito: it's ok see you tomorrow babe!

Shinichi: Ok, see you.

—

Conan didn't bother hiding his annoyance and instead let it out in the form of a loud, dramatic groan. Ok, so yes, technically, there were multiple possible interpretations of the phrase 'see you tomorrow.' But showing up unannounced at Conan's school gates with a cheeky grin and overly enthusiastic wave was obviously not the right interpretation. Sneaky thief.

Author's Notes:

You know, I actually spent, like, 20 whole seconds googling the difference between centripetal force and centrifugal force to make sure my car chase scene was scientifically accurate for you guys. And then my beta-reader googled it better and promptly corrected me on it. Ah, the lengths we go to for this story, you have no idea!

Also, I think the romcom they watched was probably Crazy Rich Asians, partly because it's an excellent movie, but mostly because it's a romance story that takes place in Singapore, which was definitely an intentional choice by Kaito and completely lost on Shinichi.

Next Up: The next chapter is various slice of life moments told from Haibara's perspective as Kaito follows his beloved Tantei-kun and his friends around in their daily lives. If you've enjoyed my sense of humor so far, then you're in luck! If you haven't, then good luck!