A/N: TW Allusions to suicidal thoughts, non-physician characters performing medical procedures, hospitals, and mention of injuries.
Characters are adults.
Voices ebbed and flowed like waves on a distant rocky shore.
Kaito was drifting in and out of consciousness.
The steady beeping from some kind of machinery and several shoes scuffing hurriedly on the floor served as additional undertones to his surroundings. Amid this cacophony, the voices were something substantial to lock on and focus. Each individual's timbre, from high and squeaky to low and sonorous, carried its own melody and tune. Speech patterns and word choices could reveal a lot about a person's inner world. But none of these were an exact science.
Kaito hadn't perfected his ability to that degree anyway.
It had begun as a game with his father. Back then, Kaito had been absorbing every trick in the book—even if his application of it turned out lacking. He had to experiment and learn as much as he could before settling on his path as a magician. Mimicking voices had been just one of those skills he shelved away as a kid, deeming it useless for anything other than practical jokes and pranks.
The irony was not lost on Kaito when impersonating anyone at the drop of a hat became vital to his career as the Phantom Thief KID. He had stumbled at first, his years of idleness making his voice crack at all the wrong times. But he persisted and insisted; until the disguises were the disposable props in this equation.
Now even that doesn't matter.
Kaito's first coherent thought blazed through his mind like a flash fire. It startled him, dispelling the hazy murmur of voices in the background.
Awareness returning to his body, Kaito found himself lying on a soft but firm mattress. Every part of him throbbed with the dull tune of pain. His left hand, draped over the edge of the bed, had some kind of object tugging uncomfortably at the inner side of his elbow. Something warm and featherweight was pressed against the back of his curled fingers. Kaito used this sensation to ground himself in reality and took a deep breath.
The sterile smell of antiseptic filled his lungs, the conversations around him clearing up enough for him to understand solid words. Somebody was calling for a nurse. Another was complaining about how long they had been waiting. A kid wailed in the distance, akin to an ambulance's siren.
A hospital? Kaito wondered before his memories breached the fuzzy dam of sweet bliss. Realization hit him with the same force he had smashed on the ground. A hospital!
Kaito sat up in a hurry.
His heart hammered like a caged bird in his chest.
Light assaulted his eyes, burning them with its whiteness.
Disorientated, he blindly patted his arm.
Soft tube.
Under his skin.
Probably an IV.
Just as he took hold of it, ready to pull, a foreign hand grabbed his wrist.
"Don't yank it out!" This voice—young, male, authoritative—tickled the edge of familiarity.
Opening slowly his bleary eyes, the fuzzy figure of a person greeted Kaito.
The other guy was leaning sideways from the neighboring bed. His deathly grip on the headboard prevented him from keeling over the space between them. Attached to the arm he was using to hold Kaito's wrist—right above the turned-up sleeve of a white shirt—he had an IV drip of his own.
"Are you stupid?" he asked, heaving. "You'll bleed out if you pull it like that."
Even the chewing out sounds familiar, Kaito lamented in the privacy of his head. Where's my brilliant quick thinking? I could use some help right about now…
There was one curious detail he was starting to notice though. His previously spiked heartbeat had slowed down.
Odd.
The other gently shook Kaito's arm. "Hey, are you with me?"
"Yeah. All my marbles are their rightful in place." Kaito shook his head. "I mean. I'm aware and listening. Can I have my hand back?"
"If you promise me that you won't do anything hasty, and will let me take a look at it."
Kaito's vision, like a viewfinder coming into focus, finally cleared. Realizing who was the altruist worrying for his health, only served to complicate things further. Since the person who had immediately jumped into action to help him was no other than the Great Detective in the flesh.
Although, upon closer inspection, Shinichi looked quite haggard himself. His suit pants were peppered with shallow cuts. If the discoloration of skin near his collarbone was any indication, more bruises were blooming under his shirt. Thankfully, his face didn't suffer a lot of damage besides a split lower lip and a scratch on his forehead.
Shinichi cocked his eyebrow towards that exact wound. "So?"
Kaito blinked. Right. He's expecting a reply.
"Sure, I promise."
"Good," Shinichi breathed out.
After going through the motions of sitting properly at the edge of the bed, he flagged down a nurse for fresh gauze and latex gloves. The nurse asked some standard questions to Kaito, but otherwise, she didn't seem bothered by Shinichi's request.
If anything, Kaito was the one puzzled that his name didn't receive any reaction. So, while the Great Detective was preparing to help him out of the IV drip, Kaito took stock of his own appearance. The answer staring back at him was ridiculously simple. He was wearing his slacks and a hoodie instead of the KID outfit. No wonder he hadn't been recognized.
But this brings another question, doesn't it? Kaito thought. Should I play the fool?
Gloved fingers trailing against his forearm snapped him back into the present. In any other situation, this could have been part of some nightmare. Kaito had seen his fair share of quack doctors performing horror surgeries on him if he ever got his hands on Pandora.
But Shinichi sat still. His expression relaxed and open, offering an invitation for Kaito to take the initiative. It was so bizarre to be treated like a regular civilian without any mask or disguise to hide behind.
Against his better judgment, Kaito placed his arm in the Great Detective's hands.
They were warm. His fingers gently prodded the area around the inserted tube, picking apart the dressing and the transparent tape holding it in place. Quite not as surprisingly, Shinichi was putting the same care and attention he allotted to clues and evidence onto this.
Kaito felt a little twitchy being scrutinized like that, even if it wasn't for doing something illegal. Years of muscle memory from soccer balls flying at high velocity toward his face were hard to override.
So, he opted for some small talk. "What are you, an intern?"
"No. I'm a detective," Shinichi deadpanned.
"What?!" Kaito made a show of trying to pull his hand away. "Do you even know what you're doing?"
"Yes. I may not be a physician, but I know a few key things. Waiting for the coroner to make the first call is tedious. Sometimes, I need to identify the proper cause of death and find the culprit before it's too late." Shinichi's hold remained steady and gentle. "Now, stop squirming. You will aggravate it."
"Aye, sir."
As more skin was becoming more visible by the minute, the unpleasant kind of squirming settled in his gut.
Kaito redirected his gaze to the room around them. Their beds were occupying the corner near the end of the Emergency Room. A beige curtain separated them from the rest of the beds in their line-up and their occupants, giving them a little privacy. Not that Kaito minded. Not at all, actually. There were worse people to get stuck in the hospital with, more so having them witness his earlier freakout. He wasn't here as KID, after all.
"Alright. I'm ready," Shinichi said. "This is going to hurt a little. So, stay still."
Your understanding of "a little" might be kinda skewed, Detective. Kaito nodded despite his reservations.
Furrowing his brows, Shinichi seemed to search for something in Kaito's expression. "If it's making you nervous, you could close your eyes."
"Thanks, but that would have the opposite effect. I can't leave the fate of my arm to some run-of-the-mill sleuth, can I?" Kaito crumbled the sheets with his free hand. "Put yourself in my shoes. Who are you, acting all nonchalant without a license?"
Shinichi chuckled. It was short-lived and almost unnoticeable, but the soft sound of it rattled Kaito to the bone.
"I'm kind of a big deal though," Shinichi meekly said. "I just don't like bragging about it anymore. Brings more trouble than it's worth."
Kaito wanted to laugh at this scenario reaching a new level of absurdity. Instead, he closed his eyes. "Okay, Mr. Hot Stuff. We both have places to be—stuff to do. Let's get this over with."
He received only an agreeable hum in return. Shinichi's fingers tightened around Kaito's elbow while his other hand started the procedure. All things considered, the pain wasn't worse than getting shot at or whenever the belts of KID's glider would dig deeper after a risky maneuver. Still uncomfortable, still painful. Kaito had never thought he would want to hide his emotions behind a Poker Face for something like this. But he came close, moments before it was over.
Pressing the folded gauze at the wound, Shinichi instructed Kaito how to keep applying pressure to it for a bit. "You took it like a champ," he added with a smile. "I haven't heard of anyone holding themselves this well together."
"What can I say? My pain tolerance might be higher than I expected. Although—" Kaito leaned forward, scoffing— "I have to hope this wasn't an experiment on your part."
"Do I look like that sort of person?" Shinichi said, placing the remnants in the porcelain bowl the nurse had provided. His posture gave nothing away. Even the act of taking off his gloves, to throw them away, was done with a grace usually reserved for springing up his deductions on suspects.
What you look like right now is, unfortunately, a very handsome bastard. How did you become so smooth while I wasn't looking for a couple of years?
Kaito's inner complaints screeched to a halt when Shinichi took ahold of his hand again.
"May I ask what are you doing, Detective…sir?" Kaito squeaked.
"I noticed something while taking out your IV. Your arm is covered by scratches at weird angles." Shinichi's fingers trailed lightly along the wounds from elbow to wrist. "As if you dropped from the air into several thorny bushes and rolled down a hill full of them."
This conjecture, while close, was not exactly accurate. Kaito had indeed crash-landed earlier amidst one of the parks still retaining its wild forest roots. But the weird angle came from the glider flying through the foliage before hitting the ground. It left Kaito wondering if the Great Detective was losing his touch or if this was the real test appearing at last.
Shinichi didn't comment on the other's prolonged silence. His inspection had reached Kaito's palm and fingers. "These nicks here are more varied. Some old, some new. They are usually made from shuffling cards." Looking up, he leveled his gaze with Kaito's. "Are you a gambler?"
Kaito was positive he was messing with him—to what end, was still to be determined. "Sure. I've gambled my life on something that didn't matter in the end. One might say I wanted to soothe my frustrations with this daredevilish stunt today."
Shinichi's expression darkened.
"I'm only kidding," Kaito said with a self-deprecating laugh. "These are from practicing tricks. I'm a budding magician, as a side gig and all."
"So, you're just an adrenaline junkie." There it was—that troubled furrow on his brow again. "I find it hard to believe when the proof of your hard work is right in front of me."
Offering a one-shouldered shrug, Kaito used his free hand to sweep Shinichi's bangs away from his eyes. "Is it that hard? All great artists hit a wall they can't overcome at some point. Inspiration dries up. Ideas aren't working, not due to lack of trying, but from the sheer effort they need to come to fruition. Sometimes, there is nothing more you can do than give up and—"
The words stopped in Kaito's throat. Shinichi had laced their fingers together.
"No," the Great Detective said; a simple declaration ringing like the true final one. "You don't get to throw down the mantle until I catch you fair and square, or you find what you've been looking for all along. Use me if you have to! I won't settle for anything less."
Laughter exploded; loud, unrestrained, and unapologetic. It took a moment for Kaito to recognize it was coming from him. He didn't stop though. He laughed and laughed and laughed until he was running out of air. Tears prickled at the corners of his eyes and he wiped them out with the back of his free hand. All the while, Shinichi didn't let go.
"You are truly an incomprehensible piece of work. You know that, right?" Kaito asked, after coming down from his outburst. "What sort of detective sides with the internationally wanted thief? And for what?"
Shinichi glanced at their joined hands. "The kind of selfish idiot who doesn't want to let go of the thief that easily. Can't have you dying on me before I solve your case."
"I'm not—is that why you're here? I'm pretty sure I called the ambulance myself!"
"You did, huh?" Shinichi cupped his chin in thought. "Was I that wrong in my estimate?"
"Yes. Maybe? It was a lapse of judgment on my part. I still very much like living, I'll have you know!" A headache was building behind his eyes, so Kaito buried his face in Shinichi's shoulder. He didn't miss the flinch. "How did you end up here, if it wasn't on purpose? Messed with the wrong crowd again?"
"Believe it or not, today was a lapse of judgment for me too."
"The scandal!"
Shinichi pinched Kaito's cheek. "I let my guard down during surveillance. Those mobsters I was following jumped me when I was least expecting it."
"Mobsters? Wasn't that a little out of your depth? I thought private investigators mostly deal with hunting down cheaters and marriage affairs, that sort of stuff?"
"A case is a case as long as it's interesting."
It was Kaito's turn to give him a once-over. "Good thing they didn't damage your face too badly. Your mother would have cried rivers upon rivers of tears."
"As if you care about that. It would have been harder to impersonate me. That's all," Shinichi said with an eye roll.
"Am I such a despicable person in your eyes? I simply expressed my genuine worries about your health." Cupping Shinichi's chin, Kaito run his thumb over the split lip. "Is that too much for my reckless, handsome Great Detective?"
Slipping from Kaito's loose hold, Shinichi pushed him back to his own bed. He quickly laid down himself. "The painkillers in your system are messing with your brain. Get some rest and we'll talk in the morning, you weirdo."
Although Shinichi's back was turned, Kaito could swear he heard him say: "Take better care of yourself, idiot thief. You're not half-bad either."
A/N: This was written for the dcmkkaishinevents discord server's One Prompt Challenge of 2024 with the prompt being: He was, unfortunately, very handsome. Originally, I had a different idea in mind but it became too big for me to make the event's deadline. So, I kinda wrote this fic here at the last minute lol.
Regardless of all that, I still had a blast writing it and I hope you had a good time reading it~
