Disclaimer: We don't own DCMK

Caught on Camera

Photograph: Strange Solutions

The next picture made Kaito laugh. He'd taken it himself, and he remembered it well. It had been shortly after Shinichi's ninth birthday…

. . . . . . . . .

"Um, Shin-chan?" Kaito said a tiny bit hesitantly. He wasn't a hesitant person by nature—quite the opposite, actually, but even he wasn't sure how to react when he opened his front door to find his best friend on the front step with a backpack and a suitcase at three in the morning.

Yes, three in the morning. He had checked the clock twice when he'd answered the phone. Shinichi hadn't said much. He'd just asked very quietly if Kaito would come downstairs and let him in.

Since Kaito made a habit of inviting himself to his friend's house at odd hours all the time, he hadn't thought there was anything strange about the sudden visit until he'd opened the door to see that Shinichi had brought luggage. And come to think of it, Shinichi loved sleeping too much to voluntarily get out of bed at three in the morning under normal (and most abnormal) circumstances.

Shinichi shuffled his feet a bit awkwardly under Kaito's questioning look. "Um…can I come in?"

"Of course." Shelving his confusion for the moment, Kaito grinned. "Here. Let me get your suitcase."

"You don't have to," Shinichi started to protest, but Kaito had already grabbed his suitcase and taken it inside.

"Come on. We can talk in my room so we won't wake Mom and Dad."

Together, they tiptoed up to Kaito's room. Shinichi winced every time the floorboards creaked or his sock-clad feet scuffed against the floor and wondered once again how Kaito could move (carrying a suitcase, no less) without making a single sound. All the better to creep up on people, he supposed. Kaito wouldn't have gotten away with half the pranks he pulled on a daily basis if he went about his work noisily. In any case, Shinichi breathed a sigh of relief when Kaito's bedroom door finally shut behind them. The telling sound sent the young magician's eyebrows up into his hairline.

"What happened?" he demanded. Taking Shinichi's backpack from him, Kaito dropped it on his desk chair then pushed his friend down to sit on the edge of his bed. Then he sat down next to Shinichi.

The smaller boy didn't respond immediately. Instead, he frowned down at the floor, small hands clenched into fists on his knees. Eventually, however, Kaito was able to coax an explanation out of him.

Apparently, Kudo Yukiko, still eager for her son to follow in her footsteps, had signed Shinichi up for a theatrical camp despite the fact that Shinichi had told her repeatedly that he didn't want to go. Worse still, the camp was taking place at the same time as a mystery convention that Shinichi had been planning to go to for the past year. He had saved up his allowance and bought the full-package ticket (which included a room at the hotel where the convention was taking place and meals for the duration of the event as well as exclusive opportunities to meet several of the visitng authors one on one) all on his own. When he had brought this up, his mother had suggested he sell his ticket online.

"And your dad?" Kaito asked, curious.

Shinichi's scowl deepened. "Don't ask."

"Not helpful then," Kaito concluded.

"No."

Kaito patted his friend on the back sympathetically. "So did you want to stay here for a while?" he asked, gesturing to the suitcase standing in the corner of the room.

Shinichi shifted a little where he sat before looking up at Kaito with a peculiar expression somewhere between hopeful, defiant, and afraid. "Actually, I was wondering if maybe I could just, you know, move in."

Kaito blinked. "What, you mean like permanently?"

Shinichi looked away, embarrassed, but nodded.

Kaito blinked again. It didn't even occur to him that his friend was proposing to run away from home. His mind focused instead on the idea of his best friend moving in. It took him all of two minutes to run through the possibilities and decide that he very much liked the idea. They already spent so much time together anyway. This would save them both a lot of commute time, and he'd have Shinichi to himself twenty-four seven. The pranks they could play!

"You can stay in my room," he decided.

"We'll have to ask your parents though," Shinichi murmured, hand rising to his chin.

"You can hide in my closet if they say you can't stay," Kaito offered. "I just built a secret room."

Shinichi stared at him, momentarily distracted. "You built a what…?"

Indigo eyes gleamed. "I added a false wall and everything. Though I guess it's more of a cubby than a room. You should fit though. Wanna see?"

"Uh, maybe later. Hiding out just isn't practical for very long."

"We'll just have to build a secret base!"

"Er, I'd rather try and convince your parents first. Can I borrow some things?"

Kaito shrugged and agreed. The secret base sounded way cooler, but it would take time to plan, so he might as well let Shinichi try his own way in the meantime.

They worked for the next three hours until Chikage called Kaito down for breakfast. The boys exchanged speaking glances before squaring their shoulders like soldiers about to head into battle.

"Shinichi?" Chikage exclaimed in surprise when two boys showed up in the dining room instead of one. Seeing the boys' serious expressions, her surprise turned into concern. "What happened? Is something wrong?"

Shinichi traded glances with Kaito then cleared his throat and stepped forward. "I need to talk to you and Toichi-san about something important," he said, looking from her to her husband and back again. "I would like to be adopted."

Shinichi proceeded to produce a presentation board, which he set up at the end of the kitchen table opposite the two elder Kurobas.

Toichi and Chikage stared. For once, even the magician was at a loss for words. It was such a bizarre sight that Kaito snuck into the other room to fetch the camera.

Nine-year-old Shinichi had outlined the pros and cons of his theoretical adoption by the Kurobas. The latter was a rather brief list including items such as an increase in household expenses. Those drawbacks would, according to the presentation board, more than be made up for by the many advantages of Shinichi's presence. He was much better in the kitchen than either Toichi or Kaito (possibly even than the both of them put together), so he would be a great asset as an assistant to Chikage. As a naturally organized person, he wouldn't make a mess. In fact, he could easily help reduce messes. As a playmate, Shinichi could also help keep Kaito occupied and out of mischief (or at least he could help mitigate the damage when Kaito went too far. This was a task Shinichi already handled on a regular basis, so they all knew he was better at it than the rest of their collective families. Living together would only make things easier. Of course, it would probably increase the number of embarrassing situations he was subjected to by his friend's wicked sense of humor, but Shinichi felt that that was a consequence he could accept). The list went on. It was all very organized and reasonable, and the presentation was clean and to the point.

When Shinichi had finished, he looked anxiously between the two flummoxed adults and waited for a response. It was Chikage who eventually broke the silence.

"Shinichi," he said gently. "Did you have an argument with your parents?"

. . . . . . . . .

…In the end, Shinichi's plans for getting himself adopted had fallen through. Instead, Chikage had arranged for him to stay with them for a few days before she had brought the Kudo parents over to have a sit down with their son. After a long discussion, it was agreed that Toichi would take both boys to the mystery convention, and no more was said about sending Shinichi to camp.

TBC