Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

Pairing: KaitoxShinichi

In Other Shoes

Chapter 8 - Coffee and Roses

Though half of him was tempted to chalk the whole thing up to KID being KID, Shinichi couldn't help but wonder why the thief had been shadowing him. Surely the magician had better things to do with his time.

Then again, Shinichi thought, sneaking a peek to where the magician in question was enjoying one of Miyako's chocolate scones, maybe he really did just have that much free time. On the other hand, even if that was the case, it wouldn't really explain anything—or at least not anything actually relevant to the question of why he'd been following Shinichi at all, time or no time.

Had the thief seen through his disguise? If he had though, wouldn't he have said something? Or wait, no, maybe he wouldn't. After all, he wouldn't want to reveal the fact that he was Kaitou KID while here in his civilian identity, especially to a detective. In fact, looked at it that way, the thief probably hadn't realized who he was. If Kaito knew he was a detective, the most logical thing to do would be to steer clear—not go out of his way to eat at the café where Shinichi was working nearly every day and shadow him on his outings.

On the other hand, if KID hadn't seen through his disguise then he'd have even less reason to do those aforementioned things.

The magician thief's idiosyncrasies aside, however, Shinichi had other problems as well. The more urgent was actually Shizuka's cousin.

"You made quite an impression on him," Shizuka had told Shinichi that morning when they were getting the café ready to open. "He says he's never met anyone who was so patient with listening to his architecture rants. And when you actually showed some interest in some of it, he thought he'd found his destiny or something—his words, not mine. The kid's always been a bit dramatic. But anyway, he said he'd really love to see you again. He wanted me to ask you if you'd be free for dinner on Sunday."

Shinichi had tried to hide his wince at Shizuka's words. The girl saw it anyway though and chuckled.

"You were just being polite to him, weren't you?" she asked kindly.

Seeing no reason to lie but feeling a bit guilty about the whole thing anyway, Shinichi nodded. "He's…enthusiastic, and I think he's a nice person. I just…" He trailed off, not sure how to finish the sentence because most of what was coming to mind involved certain secrets. This whole situation was just too bizarre for him (or so he told himself. Although he suspected that his floundering may have more to do with the fact that this particular sphere of life in general wasn't one he was accustomed to wading through).

Shizuka, on the other hand, seemed to know because she giggled and patted Shinichi on the shoulder. "It's all right. He's not your type. That's not your fault or his. I'll let him down easy for you, if you'd like."

"Would you?" Shinichi asked, relieved.

Shizuka laughed outright this time. "Of course."

"Thanks. And I'm sorry."

Shizuka waved away his apology with a smile and a shake of the head. "Don't be. Like I said, if you're not a good match, you're not a good match. It's no one's fault."

Shinichi nodded, grateful for the girl's understanding. He liked Shizuka. She and Erika had both gone out of their way to make him feel at home when he'd started working with them, and he hadn't been looking forward to arguing with her if she'd tried to push the issue with her cousin. Fortunately, it hadn't come to that.

Lost in thought, Shinichi was caught off guard when Shizuka nudged him. Once she had his attention, she nodded to KID's table.

"That one's more your type, right Shinko?" she said teasingly.

Shinichi choked on thin air as he blushed bright red. "What? Why would you even say that?"

"There's no need to be embarrassed," Shizuka assured him with a far too amused smile. "He's very charming, clearly talented, and handsome on top of that. If I didn't already have a boyfriend I'm very happy with, I'd be interested too."

Shinichi's mouth worked. No words emerged.

Then Erika arrived.

"What's wrong with Shinko-chan?" she asked.

"We were just having a little chat about her crush," Shizuka said before Shinichi could even open his mouth.

"Ah." Erika nodded sagely. "Kuroba-kun, right?"

"I don't have a crush on him," Shinichi protested weakly.

"Really?" Erika looked puzzled. "But you keep looking at him."

"That's not… I mean, it's just…" Shinichi started then stopped. He couldn't exactly say that he was looking because the man in question was Kaitou KID, and Shinichi was wondering what the thief was doing here. His inability to articulate this, however, was only providing fuel for his coworkers' clearly overactive imaginations.

"I understand," Erika said, showing that she didn't understand at all. "There's a lot of competition there. But I think you have a good chance." Then she leaned close with a conspiratorial wink. "I've seen him checking you out."

Shinichi silently wished that the ground would swallow him whole. He also staunchly refused to think about why Erika's last comment had made his heart skip a beat. It was obviously the abject mortification of being the subject of such a ridiculous discussion.

For once, however, he got lucky, and one of the customers seated at one of the tables he was in charge of caught his eye and waved. He gratefully excused himself and hurried to see what the customer wanted.

Despite his resolve not to think about it though, Shinichi nonetheless found his mind drifting back to Shizuka and Erika's comments later that afternoon while he was out just wandering through the commercial parts of the town. He had picked up a new novel and was considering finding a nice spot to settle down in at the park to read it when he saw a now familiar mess of dark hair.

He stopped automatically to watch. Kaito seemed to be showing a group of a dozen or so grade school children how to fly kites. The kids were working in small groups, but they were all clamoring for the magician's attention, and it looked to Shinichi like an argument was about to break out over who should get to get help first.

Making a snap decision, he approached the group and cleared his throat.

"Excuse me," he said, keeping his eyes on the children. "If you'd like, I could show some of you how to get the kite off the ground."

There was a little tussling and a few more complaints, but they soon had the children sorted out so that Kaito was helping two of the teams while Shinichi helped the other two. It wasn't too long before all four kites were rising higher and higher into the sky.

At that point, the kids began vying with each other to see which of the teams could make their kite fly up the highest, leaving Kaito and Shinichi to just stand back and watch, relatively forgotten.

"Thanks for the help," Kaito said, turning a broad smile on Shinichi. "Shinko, right? You're really good with kids."

Shinichi blushed. "I've…had some experience," he said vaguely as he cast around for a change of subject. "Um, so…was this some sort of event?"

Kaito blinked then laughed. "Nah. Or if it was, it wasn't one of mine. I was just passing by, and I saw the kids running around trying to throw the kites up. It wasn't working. And since I know a thing or two about flying kites, I thought I'd lend them a hand. They designed all the kites themselves, you know. So it turned out some of their construction had to be tweaked a bit."

"And you helped them with that?"

"Yep. It really wasn't very difficult."

For the Kaitou KID, it certainly wouldn't be, Shinichi thought with some amusement. If anyone should know how to build a functional kite from scratch, it would be KID.

"Hey, would you like to go get some coffee?" the magician asked suddenly. "My treat."

Caught off guard, Shinichi could only stammer. "I, uh, huh?"

"That coffee shop right there is really good," Kaito continued, nodding to a venue just across from the park they were currently in. "And I'd like to thank you for your help with the kite lessons."

"Oh." Shinichi could feel himself beginning to blush and tried desperately to stop it. "That really isn't necessary…"

"I want to though," Kaito persisted, offering Shinichi a charming smile and a hand. "Please?"

Shinichi found he couldn't muster the energy to say no in the face of that smile. And so, against his better judgment, he let the magician lead him across the street to the coffee shop. Before he knew it, he was seated at a window-side table across from Kaito with a cup of coffee and a slice of walnut cake.

"How is it?" Kaito asked.

"The coffee is really good," Shinichi admitted. "But I think Miyako-san's walnut cake is better."

Kaito chuckled. "Is that your honest opinion or your loyalty to your boss speaking?"

Shinichi rolled his eyes. "My honest opinion. There's no point lying about these sorts of things. I would get this again though, so it's not like I'm saying it's bad."

"I see your point. Next time, you should really take my advice though and get this tiramisu. It's their best cake, and I'd give it a ten out of ten."

"I'll remember that," Shinichi agreed amiably. "Though I'm not sure how often I'll be visiting. It does feel a bit strange to be eating at a competitor's."

"Nah. Miyako's baked goods are mostly pretty different from what this place offers, so I wouldn't say they're direct competitors. Besides, good food is good food. You should never deny it to yourself for silly things like branding."

"I think maybe we're getting off topic," Shinichi observed.

Kaito laughed. "Maybe. So what's your favorite pastry then?"

"Lemon pie, I guess. But lemon bars are pretty good too."

"So you like sour foods?"

Shinichi shrugged. "I wouldn't say that. It's more that, when it comes to desserts, I prefer when they're not too sweet. I find that desserts that use lemons and similar fruits tend to help balance out the flavors better for me. But chocolate's good too if it's dark."

"It's chocolate all the way for me," Kaito enthused. "I think it's impossible to make a chocolate dessert that doesn't taste good."

"Do you bake?" Shinichi asked, curious. He had a sudden mental image of Kaitou KID opening an oven and pulling out a Nakamori-keibu trussed up in a bread roll and steaming.

Kaito chuckled. "I've tried a few times, but alas, my many talents do not appear to include baking. Last time I tried, I ended up with this tray of chocolate goop. It turns out that adding five extra bags of chocolate chips to your chocolate cake mix doesn't automatically make you a more chocolaty cake."

"…I can see why you ended up with goop."

"Do you bake?" Kaito asked.

"Miyako-san's been teaching me a bit so I can help out in the kitchen when things get too busy," Shinichi replied. "But it's new for me."

"Do you enjoy it?"

That question made Shinichi pause. He hadn't really thought about it before, but, looking back on the hours he'd spent learning about how different ingredients played different roles in breads and cakes and other baked goods, he realized that he had, indeed, been enjoying the experience.

"I do," he concluded, a slightly surprised smile making its way onto his face. "It's new. And Miyako-san's showed me that baking is a lot like putting together a Tangram puzzle. If you understand the pieces and know what you want, you can work your way towards that goal by thinking about and changing how each piece is used. And if you get it right, you create something that makes people happy. It's nice."

His real work so rarely made people happy. It could, he had always thought and still believed—had to believe—that it could bring people relief and closure and, in some cases, second chances. But happiness? No, that was not something his work inspired very often at all.

"It's just like magic," Kaito said with a grin. "It makes people smile and provides them with a wonderful experience that becomes a beautiful memory they can treasure long afterward."

Shinichi blinked then laughed. "I suppose a magician would say that."

Kaito quirked an eyebrow at him. "What, it is an apt comparison is it not?"

Shinichi shrugged. "It could be. It all depends on the quality of the magic."

"As it depends on the quality of the food," Kaito pointed out. "My analogy stands."

This time, Shinichi smiled. "I suppose it does."

They chatted for a while longer, and Shinichi found himself relaxing in spite of everything. When Kaito regretfully mentioned that he had to go get ready for the night's show, Shinichi found himself disappointed. But he rallied and thanked the magician for the coffee and the company.

"Not at all. It was my pleasure," Kaito assured him. Catching Shinichi's hand, he lifted it to his lips and brushed a chaste kiss across the detective's knuckles before said detective could react. Then he produced a red rose with a flourish and pressed it into Shinichi's stunned hand. "For you, my fair lady. A token to remember me by until we meet again."

-To Be Continued-