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The first time Shinichi meets Kuroba Kaito, they’re both too busy worrying about Hakuba to really bother with anything aside from a rushed introduction. Kuroba has brown hair and he walks without making a sound - that’s about all Shinichi really notices about him before their attention is pulled away from each other to the doctor coming down the hallway towards them.
Hakuba turns out to only have a broken wrist and three bruised ribs, which is much milder than what Shinichi had been expecting after the panicked call he’d gotten from Aoko telling him he was in the hospital after an investigation gone wrong.
With the worry out of the way, or as much of it as he can possibly push aside when he can still see Hakuba’s gaunt face and Aoko’s red eyes, Shinichi excuses himself to the hallway and starts calling the necessary people so he can get assigned to the case Hakuba had been working on. He’s in the middle of a call with some mouthy higher up when Kuroba steps out of the room, looking a mixture of tired and relieved, bitten red lips pulled down into a frown. Their gazes meet for a moment, a strange and inexplicable bolt of electricity going down Shinichi’s spine - Kuroba’s eyes are a dark blue, the color of the ocean after a storm, expressive and inscrutable all at once - and then Kuroba is making his way down the hallway and away from him, presumably done with his visit. Shinichi observes his figure until he disappears around the corner, and then the man on the phone with him makes a biting comment that has him shaking off the whole interaction in favor of snarking back.
The second time Shinichi meets Kuroba Kaito, they’re both at Aoko’s house for a dinner party. They’re introduced to each other again, even though Shinichi can see his own recognition of Kuroba mirrored on the other’s face.
“We met at the hospital,” Kuroba says, shaking Shinichi’s hand with calloused fingers. His lips are stretched into a small friendly smile, and Shinichi takes a moment to appreciate how well it suits him, as compared to the haggered worry that’d been eating at him when he last saw him.
They don’t talk much after that, both gravitating towards their friends for most of the evening, but Shinichi catches his eyes several times throughout the night, and the strange sensation comes back to him each time, a familiarity that rings inside his chest in a way it shouldn't with a stranger. He thinks, ah, Kuroba reminds me of someone, but no matter how much he racks his brain for it, the one in question never makes themselves known and he's left with an itch to scratch that refuses to go away, settling deep in his head anytime Kuroba looks his way.
The third time Shinichi meets Kuroba, it's completely by accident, devoid of any mutual friends.
He's at a sports store in Beika, trying on a new pair of cleats after having unexpectedly realized his old ones are too worn out, when someone trips over his bent form. He watches in annoyed disbelief as they effortlessly fold into a somersault and hit the floor in a fluid motion, rolling into a sitting position in front of him.
"Woah, that was dangerous," they say dazedly, and Shinichi immediately recognizes that voice.
"Kuroba?" He asks, hesitantly, and Kuroba stops patting himself down to turn around and look at him, eyes wide.
"Kudou?" He gets to his knees, crawling forward until they're face to face. "What're you doing sitting around on the floor? If I was someone else I could've seriously broken something."
Shinichi scratches his nose and gets up, slamming his right foot down to check if the cleats fit properly. "Trying these on," he says, repeating the same action with his left foot. "Don't you look where you walk? It's hard to miss someone my size, you know."
Kuroba purses his lips. "There are seats for that.”
“This is faster,” Shinichi says, taking some steps backwards and then forward again. The cleats seem fine, comfortable and breathable. The color isn’t his favorite, a faded sort of beige mixed with some light red, but looking up at the shelves he can see there are other colors of the same model on display, so it’s not a problem.
When he looks at him again, Shinichi realizes Kuroba is still watching him, gaze trailing down his legs with a strange intensity. To avoid looking rude to one of his friends’ friends, he asks, “What’re you up to?”
Kuroba shakes his head, glances up at him with a distracted look in his eyes. “Looking for knee pads.”
Shinichi hums, curious. “Gymnastics?”
Kuroba visibly startles at that. “Sort of, yeah. How’d you know?”
“You have the hands for it,” Shinichi says, wiggling his fingers, and when Kuroba makes a face, as if embarrassed, he rushes to correct, “I mean the callouses. Last time we met, we shook hands.”
“Oh,” Kuroba says, and looks down at his fingers, flexing them as if noticing his own rough skin for the first time. “Right, I forgot about those.”
Shinichi, mildly uncomfortable, bends down again to start pulling off the cleats. “Yeah…”
“Well,” Kuroba trails off, apparently noticing the sudden awkwardness as well, “I better get going, then. It was nice seeing you.”
Shinichi nods, waving him goodbye as he goes. “Nice seeing you too.”
The whole exchange leaves him feeling wrong-footed, as if he’d unknowingly been expecting their interactions to go differently. It doesn’t make sense, so he chalks it up to the weird feeling he gets every time he sees Kuroba - his gut is clearly trying to tell him something.
The fourth time Shinichi meets Kuroba, they’re at a heist. Aoko is there too, busy chatting away with one of the task force officers and sharing homemade croquettes around the circle of policemen surrounding the jewel. Kuroba is wearing one of the KID merch shirts that are often sold outside heist locations, with a large KID caricature plastered on it and a small ‘I <3 KID’ written underneath it. Shinichi squints at it for a long moment, caught off guard by the fact that Aoko, someone he’s always known to be vocally against everything KID, is friends with someone who seems to very obviously be a fan.
Kuroba notices his staring and looks down at his own shirt, a grin spreading over his mouth as he does so. “Do you like it? I have more at home if you also want one,” he offers, though his eyes twinkle like he knows exactly what Shinichi’s reply will be.
“No, thank you,” Shinichi says, trying to keep his tone mild. He doesn’t want to offend him, but he also really doesn’t want a KID shirt, of all things.
“Pity,” Kuroba sighs, “I got Hakuba one but he’s never worn it.”
Shinichi almost chokes at the thought of Hakuba walking around parading a KID shirt - it’s funnier than it has any right to be. Kuroba watches him struggle to keep from snorting, amusement clear in his eyes, as if he himself knows how ridiculous the idea is. He probably does. You don’t get to be Hakuba’s friend without knowing his stance on most things.
“I didn’t take you for a KID fan.”
Kuroba tilts his head. “I didn’t take you for a KID-sama hater.”
Shinichi does let out a soft breathy chuckle at that. KID-sama. Sounds like Sonoko. “I’m not.”
Kuroba juts his lip out in a confused pout. “Where do you stand, then?”
Shinichi sneaks a glance at Aoko, who’s still distractedly chatting away on the opposite side of the venue, and says, “I think he’s interesting enough to chase, and harmless enough to enjoy.”
“Huh. Never heard that one before.”
“I’m a homicide detective, I don’t usually deal with thieves.” Shinichi shrugs. “And if I do, there’s always murder involved.” He waves a lazy hand, gesturing to the room at large. “This is a nice reprieve from all that. And I’m sure Hakuba feels the same, though I doubt he’d admit to it.”
Apparently, that’s enough to put him in Kuroba’s good graces, because he stays with him for most of the heist after that, only disappearing in the midst of the smoke and confusion that starts up once KID shows up. Later, when it’s all done and over with, KID gone along with the jewel, he finds Kuroba standing outside the glass doors of the museum with Aoko, a scowl on his face as she seemingly scolds him about something.
“Hey,” Shinichi says, walking up to them, and Aoko immediately clamps up, giving Kuroba a look that clearly promises their conversation isn’t over.
“Kudou-kun!” She greets. “Did you get to see KID? I noticed you weren’t around after the jewel disappeared.”
Shinichi rubs the back of his neck. “I followed him, yes. He didn’t stick around for long, though.”
He doesn’t mention how he didn’t follow KID in order to catch him, or how they stood side by side for a moment, watching the jewel reflect shattered moonlight onto the floor of the roof. KID had sighed, said it wasn’t the one, and then rubbed Shinichi’s shoulder with his gloved hand, in such a familiar and absentminded way that Shinichi wanted to melt onto the floor the moment the contact was made. It’s not new, this skinship KID seems to lean into whenever they’re alone. It started when Shinichi got his body back; he suspects the organization’s take-down kicked something into place for KID. Maybe it was the exchange of truths between them, or the shared trust - whatever it was, Shinichi still hasn’t learned how to deal with it, has no idea how to keep his heart from racing in his chest and his mouth from drying up whenever KID gets too close. Perhaps he never will.
When he glances up, Kuroba is watching him with a considering look in his eyes. His lips spread into a slow smile, a soft unguarded thing, and he says, “I like you, Kudou. We should hang out sometime.”
Shinichi feels his face heat up at that, for some reason, and tries his best to keep his tone casual as he replies, “Sure, I’d like that. I’ll get your number from Hakuba?”
“Okay,” Kuroba says, giving a one shoulder shrug.
And after that, his meetings with Kuroba stop being unexpected. Turn into five, six, seven, eight, along and along until he’s not counting anymore, until they ease into something natural, something friendly and without much thought to guide it. They become friends, and Shinichi’s surprised by how uncomplicated it all is. He’s not used to making friends like this, has always been pushed into friendships by circumstance rather than desire.
It’s nice. So nice that, when the other shoe drops, he’s completely blindsided by it.
It starts with a seemingly innocent conversation. Kuroba is talking about a magic trick he’s been working on, because that’s something he does - magic. And Shinichi says, great, that’s cool, can’t wait to see it, can’t wait to figure it out, and apparently that’s the wrong thing to say, because Kuroba falls into a rant about taking the fun out of magic tricks and ruining it for everyone else.
“You detectives are all the same.” He lets out a sigh, dropping his head back against the seat of the booth they’re sitting at. “The water just reflects the color of the sky, blah blah blah.” He makes a face, as if mimicking someone. “What’s so wrong with letting a little wonder into your lives, stop trying to figure everything out, dream a little.”
Shinichi pauses, staring at him. A gear in his head clicks into place, starts turning.
“What?” Kuroba asks, after he’s been silent for too long, and Shinichi, looking into his clear ocean eyes, gets pulled into a different time, back when he was still barely 4 feet tall and stuck in a body that didn’t belong.
“You, what you just said. KID told me the same thing, a while back.” He bites his cheek, remembers the way he’d thought about Ran, then the way he’d thought about KID too, how conflicted he’d been about it.
Kuroba looks at him, wide eyed, like he’s been caught out. “Oh,” he laughs, a nervous hiccup-like sound. “That’s because I heard him say it too, at a heist!”
And Shinichi hadn’t been thinking about anything along those lines, had simply assumed it had been a small coincidence born of the fact both of them are magicians and seem to share ideals; but now, watching Kuroba’s shifty face, suspicion starts entering his mind.
“Did he?”
“Yeah!” Kuroba nods enthusiastically. “He said it to Hakuba!” The words come out with confidence, like he’s sure of them, but the way his hands twitch as he says them begs to differ.
Shinichi narrows his eyes at him. “I can tell when you’re lying, you know.”
Kuroba freezes, eyes moving from side to side, as if looking for an exit.
Shinichi lets out a breath of air, allows his shoulders to drop. “You can have your secrets, I’m not gonna pry. Just thought you should know.”
Kuroba purses his lips, lets them stretch into a grimace. “Um.” He looks away, hides his hands under the table as if also knowing they give him away. “Actually, the truth is…” he bites his lip, shakes his bangs out of his face. “I know KID.”
Shinichi raises an eyebrow. “Yeah, I know you do.”
“No, no.” Kuroba shakes his head. “I know him, like, in real life.”
That gives him pause, because, well, Shinichi’s heard Hakuba say the same thing before. It even makes sense, in a way, that Kuroba would also know KID’s civilian identity when he’s been friends with Hakuba for so long. If they’re both telling the truth, then the most likely scenario is that KID is a mutual friend of theirs, one Shinichi’s never met before.
“Really?”
“Yes,” Kuroba makes a pained face. “You won’t tell, right?”
Shinichi looks away, taps a mindless rhythm on the table. As if he’d ever reveal anything about KID to anyone other than Haibara, who keeps her secrets as close to her chest as anyone possibly can. “Telling someone would just make you seem like a delusional fan.”
Kuroba visibly relaxes. “Thanks.”
Afterwards, it becomes easier to pick up little mannerisms Kuroba and KID share. It’s not something Shinichi ever noticed on Hakuba, which immediately makes him assume KID and Kuroba are closer than Hakuba and KID. From the way they sit to the way they gesticulate, the way they perform their tricks, the way they walk and talk and adjust their clothes and curl their hair behind their ears. Suddenly, it’s like some kind of giant arrow is pointing out all these similarities between them.
Something Sonoko once told him when she was teasing him about Ran sticks out to him, now - about how couples start to resemble each other the longer they’re together. It seems stupid, to get that thought stuck in his head whenever he notices Kuroba doing something he’s seen KID do before, but he can’t help it.
Not only that, but ever since he told Shinichi about knowing KID, Kuroba won’t shut up about him. KID-sama this, KID-sama that, and wasn’t he great in that one heist, and isn’t he awesome and cool, he’d totally make a great boyfriend, wouldn’t he? Shinichi almost wants to be embarrassed about how obvious Kuroba is with his affection for KID. Except inside, he imagines he’s also pretty obvious with his own affection.
In the end, he’s a detective, so this is what he does: he takes the clues spread out before him and he fits them together into a picture that makes sense with the information he’s been given. Adds and adds and adds and adds like puzzle pieces from a game. And somehow, as ridiculous as it seems at first, this is what makes sense - Kuroba is dating KID’s civilian identity.
There go Shinichi’s tentative hopes and dreams, all shot down in one fell swoop.
It’s not that he thought he had any chances to begin with, being who he is and knowing KID as he does, but somehow, he’d held onto a tiny shard of hope that maybe someday things would be different, that maybe they could change. That shard is gone now, because now he knows what he’s up against, has seen it more clearly than he ever had before.
Kuroba is larger than life, he’s pretty, he’s funny, he’s got hands that work magic and he’s got everything anyone would want in a partner. He’s all the things Shinichi could never hope to be for KID and more. To add to that, he’s open and outspoken about his feelings, something Shinichi has only ever managed to do once, when pushed into a corner, chasing Ran across the streets of London with a desperation that cut him deep across the chest.
Now, he can’t imagine doing that again, couldn’t bear to crack open his ribs and let the world see the blood boiling inside, the heart thumping a rhythm that rises on KID’s name. He’s never been that guy, will never be that guy, and that’s the truth and misery of it. From the start, he never had a shot, and the only thing worse than realizing that is knowing that it took him so long to see it. How pitiful of him, to have fooled himself for so long.
Nevertheless, he likes Kuroba, much more than he ever expected he would, and he loves KID, lamentably so. And all that means is he should show his support, even in small ways, like he does with Hattori when it comes to Kazuha.
So he tries his best. He agrees with Kuroba’s rants about KID, hoping to come across as reassuring and possibly coming across as genuine, because he does think KID is awesome and cool, and he does think KID would make a great boyfriend.
He also makes a point of making sure KID knows he approves of their relationship, subtly so, though he doubts KID ever felt the need for his approval, or his opinion on the matter as a whole. Still, as pointless as it might seem, he does want to be someone the two of them can talk to about their issues, even if they seem to have yet to realize he knows what’s going on between them.
All in all, he thinks he’s doing a great job of being a good friend to both of them until the exact moment Kuroba kisses him.
Shinichi is frozen for a moment, cross-eyed in disbelief as he stares at Kuroba’s long lashes and feels the softness of his lips against his own. His heart skips a beat, then two, then three, and then he’s ripping himself away and bringing a hand up to his mouth, the hot tingly feeling blooming in his chest overshadowed by the dread filling his lungs.
“What the fuck, Kuroba,” he spits out, betrayed and upset, angry and confused.
Kuroba looks confused too, hurt clouding his eyes, lips red and shiny. “Wha- I’m sorry,” he rushes to say, looking down at his feet, hands clenched into fists at his sides. “I thought-”
“You thought what?” Shinichi asks, voice strained with the weight of what’s just happened. “That you could do this on a whim?” His voice rises at the end, thin and brittle. “No, seriously, what’s gotten into you?”
Kuroba keeps staring at the floor, quiet, the wounded look on his face twisting into one of apathy.
“Tell me!” Shinichi insists, fear suffocating him. He lifts a hand - to grab at Kuroba’s shoulder, to push him, to shake him - but the thought of touching him right now feels like too much, and he drops it back to his side in the same breath. “What am I supposed to do now? I thought you- why would you do this? What about KID?”
Kuroba looks up at that, the blankness of his face a shocking contrast against Shinichi’s red hot anger. “What about him?”
“You can’t be serious,” Shinichi says, letting his voice drop into a whisper.
Kuroba was supposed to be - good. He was supposed to be better. This isn’t meant to happen, Shinichi isn’t meant to give KID up for someone who kisses other people behind his back.
Except, against his better judgement and all the facts laid out before him, he can’t help but think, louder than anything else: Kuroba is good, Kuroba is better. None of this makes sense, none of it fits into what Shinichi’s come to expect from him.
“Tell me why you did this, I need to understand,” he practically begs, trying to meet Kuroba’s eyes.
Kuroba avoids his gaze, a bitter expression on his face. “Nevermind, it doesn’t matter anymore.”
“What do you mean it doesn’t ma-”
“I’m gonna go,” Kuroba cuts him off, fast and low, turning around and starting towards the kitchen door.
“No, wait!” Shinichi calls after him, following him down the hall and up to the front door. “Don’t leave, we need to talk.”
Kuroba looks at him over his shoulder, a rueful smile on his face. “I think we’ve said what we needed to say, don’t you? You couldn’t have made yourself any clearer, Kudou.”
Shinichi stares, uncomprehending, as Kuroba opens the door and slips outside, closing it behind him with a gentleness not befitting of the situation.
“What does that even mean?” He asks, voice loud in the silence of his empty house.
No one answers back.
Kuroba is avoiding him, Shinichi is sure. It’s not that he expected anything else after their last disastrous interaction, but he didn’t think it would be as blatant as this.
His calls are denied, his messages ignored. If he shows up to his house, whose address he bullied off of Hakuba, his knocks might as well be soundless for all they get answered.
Clearly, the best solution here is to let time run its course, and hopefully Kuroba will eventually come around and give him a chance to talk things out with him. Worst case scenario, he decides he doesn’t want anything to do with Shinichi after their fight and never speaks to him again. He’s really really hoping for the former.
After almost a week of avoidance and moping around by himself, he tells Haibara what’s happened - his confidant when it comes to all matters KID - and she wisely opens his eyes to one different way of looking at the whole ordeal.
What if, she says, Kuroba and KID were never dating to begin with?
He thinks on it for a while, mulls it over, again and again, looking at it from all angles. In the end, he can do nothing but accept the fact that she’s right, and that he was wrong - so convinced of his own conclusions that he never considered anything else.
He feels incredibly stupid, after that.
Kuroba wasn’t dating KID. Kuroba just liked KID. Looking back, his rants were clearly those of someone with a crush, not of someone in a committed relationship. He’d talked KID up like someone talks the one they like up to their friends, showing him off, like, wait, he looks better in person , or, see how nimble he is, I really appreciate that in a man .
As for KID, he never really said much about Kuroba to him, aside from reacting pleasantly to Shinichi’s throwaway comments about how nice he thought Kuroba was - which were mostly his embarrassing attempts at showing support for a relationship that he now realizes didn’t even exist to begin with.
So, yeah, he misunderstood. Big time. And now Kuroba won’t speak to him, because he tried to kiss Shinichi in what is now obvious was an innocent romantic advance on his part, and Shinichi had rejected him in the worst way possible. Kuroba probably thought he was disgusted, which, well, Shinichi kind of was, at the time, when he perceived the kiss as a betrayal of KID, a betrayal of the image Shinichi had painted of Kuroba in his mind - loyal, kind, inherently good Kuroba.
Now, thinking back on it, all Shinichi feels is a warm glow that spreads across his chest, a giddy feeling that supersedes the anxiety of having to wait for Kuroba to talk to him again.
Kuroba likes him. Kuroba likes him .
And Shinichi likes him too. More than he thought he could. Has him filling up so much space in his heart that he might just be able to push KID out if he tries. And he doesn’t want to push KID out, is terrified of the thought - but having something with KID was never a realistic desire, while Kuroba is real, is solid, is right there at arm’s reach. KID is the fog that permeates the air for a day’s time before dissipating without a trace, and Kuroba is the gum that sticks to the soles of your shoes, follows you home, clings to the rubber with single minded ferocity, there to stay.
Kuroba still isn’t talking to him when, two weeks later, KID sends a heist note.
Shinichi goes, because he’s nothing if not predictable when it comes to this, and quickly finds Hakuba sitting on one of the theater’s chairs, watching the stage with a laser-focus intensity he only really reserves for heists. He takes a seat next to him, pulling on the sleeves of his sweater and feeling a little underdressed next to Hakuba’s full brown suit.
“Kudou-kun,” Hakuba says in greeting, eyes leaving the stage for a second to look him over. “Didn’t expect you today.”
“Well, Kuroba’s still not talking to me. I thought I’d try and get KID to tell me how he’s doing, since you seem so intent on not telling me anything and Aoko’s ignoring me in solidarity.”
“She is?” Hakuba asks, looking surprised. “Maybe I should do that too, then you’d stop annoying me.”
Shinichi snorts. “As if. I’m the only friend you have who’ll talk to you about books.”
“I’m sure I could go without for as long as Kuroba-kun does. I doubt this will last much longer.”
Shinichi perks up at that. “Why? Did he say something?”
Hakuba presses his lips together, ignoring his question.
“Fine, be that way,” Shinichi grumbles, looking at the stage as well.
According to the heist note, KID is coming for the pink garnet headpiece one of the actresses is going to be wearing during the play. Apparently, it belongs to the family sponsoring the play and will only be in Japan for the short month during which the play will be on.
The play has been running for almost three weeks now, so KID has uncharacteristically left the heist for the last minute, which makes Shinichi think the time sensitivity of it has forced KID to act against his will. It’s rare for KID to put on a heist despite not being up for it, but this wouldn’t be the first time. Shinichi has witnessed it before, once, when KID had clearly been sick with the flu and half coherent through most of it. He imagines Hakuba is even more used to this sort of thing, having been after KID for so long.
“Did Kuroba tell you why he’s avoiding me? I know why, just wondering if you do,” he asks, his curiosity getting the best of him.
“He hasn’t told me,” Hakuba says simply. He gives Shinichi a long searching look, and then adds, “I think...he’s embarrassed about whatever it is.”
Shinichi starts. “Embarrassed? He has nothing to be embarrassed about,” he says, eyebrows furrowed. “It’s all a big misunderstanding, that’s why I need to talk to him.”
Hakuba raises an eyebrow at that, but doesn’t comment on it. “Well, sort it out soon.”
“I would if he just talked to me,” Shinichi mumbles, crossing his arms over his chest.
They both fall silent after that, and soon, the curtains open and the play begins. Shinichi barely pays attention to the plot, too busy looking out for any signs of KID, but his distraction ends up being pointless because KID doesn’t make an appearance until the end of the play. In fact, he doesn’t make an appearance at all. One moment the headpiece is there, and the next, halfway through the actors’ bows, it’s gone, and the actress is screaming about the loss of its weight like a limb has been taken from her.
Shinichi exchanges a look with Hakuba and they both jump out of their seats, heading to different exit doors. It’s mostly a guess on both their parts, because neither of them saw KID and there’s no way to really know which door he would take in order to escape the building, but Shinichi’s guess pays off when he’s running down the alley opposite the theater and he catches a glimpse of a shadowy outline running just ahead.
“KID!” he yells, and watches as the shadow stops in their tracks, confirming his suspicions. He doesn’t have long to catch up, though, because despite the momentary hesitation, KID takes off running once again, keeping five steps ahead of him the whole time. “Hey! Stop running from me!” Shinichi calls after him, annoyed. He takes a moment to thank his past self for deciding to bring his cleats to the heist, before letting a burst of speed overtake him and sprinting the last few feet separating him from KID.
He throws his arms out and grabs KID by the waist, sending them both sprawling across the ground in an ungraceful tangle of limbs.
His knees sting from where they hit the harsh pavement, his hands trapped under KID’s chest from where he’d been holding him. Despite that, Shinichi doesn’t disentangle himself from him even as he recovers from the fall, afraid that he’ll once again try to escape.
“Shit, that hurt,” KID hisses, pulling himself up on his elbows and rubbing at his chin. After a moment in which he pats himself down for any injuries, he twists around in Shinichi’s grip and stares down at him, eyes shadowed by the black cap pulled over his head. “What the fuck, detective. Are you trying to get me to break my teeth?”
“You wouldn’t stop,” Shinichi says defensively, finally rising into a sitting position, hands still circling KID’s waist.
Like this, they’re standing barely a hair’s breadth away from each other. The lights are dim, the moon covered by the tall buildings that make up the alley, but from this distance, Shinichi can see the way KID’s lips press together, the way his nose twitches as he takes in a shuddery breath.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t think you’d jump me,” he says, an edge to his voice that Shinichi doesn’t recognize.
“I need to talk to you,” Shinichi rushes to say, reluctantly pulling his hands back to increase the space between them, hoping KID doesn’t try and break for it.
“Why?” KID asks, suspicion clear in his tone, as well as something else - fear, maybe.
“It’s about Kuroba.”
KID takes in a sharp breath, makes as if to pull back and then hesitates when he sees Shinichi reaching forward to stop him. “What about him?”
Shinichi gets a strange sense of deja vu at that, remembers Kuroba’s words back in his house, how he’d asked the same thing when Shinichi mentioned KID. They really are alike, those two.
“I don’t know if he’s told you, but he’s sort of...avoiding me.”
KID shifts slightly, shoulders rising as if uncomfortable. “He told me.”
Shinichi lets out a defeated sigh. “Hakuba won’t tell me anything and Aoko’s avoiding me too, you’re the only other person I know who’s also in contact with him.”
“And?” KID prompts, pulling his cap lower over his face, hiding.
“I just- can you tell him I really need to talk to him?” He pushes his bangs out of his face, feels the irony of KID being his last resort when he’s the reason they crossed wires in the first place. “It was all a misunderstanding, completely my fault. I just want him to give me the chance to explain.” He looks down, picks at a loose piece of gravel, rolls it under his index finger. “I really...like him,” he says under his breath, barely above a whisper.
KID stills in front of him, shoulders dropping from their tense position. “You- what?”
Shinichi looks at him, suddenly exhausted. His thighs burn from the unexpected run, his chest aches with the worry that KID might not even deem to pass his message along. “Look, can you just tell him I said that? That’s all I wanted.”
He rises to his feet, shaking his legs out, and is about to turn around to head back out the alley when KID springs to his feet as well and throws a hand out to catch his wrist.
“Wait,” he says, urgently. “What do you mean, it was a misunderstanding?”
Shinichi looks at the place where KID’s fingers circle his wrist. He’s not wearing gloves anymore, must have pulled them off to check the realness of the jewel, and his skin is hot, calloused fingers pressed against Shinichi’s pulse-point, burning.
“I mean just that, it was a misunderstanding.” He pulls his hand out of KID’s grasp, feeling something akin to guilt at his own reaction to KID’s touch. What’s he doing, letting his heart trip over itself for KID when he’s yet to even solve things with Kuroba? “Do you know what happened?”
“Sort of, yes,” KID says, rubbing his hands down his black jeans. “He kissed you, you got mad…”
Shinichi lets out a short dry laugh. “That’s the gist of it, I guess.” He rubs his eyes, wondering if he should even be telling KID about this when he hasn’t had the chance to tell Kuroba yet. “Don’t tell him this, because I want to be the one doing it, but- I thought...” he winces, “you guys were dating.”
KID doesn’t reply for a long moment, staring at him with what Shinichi can only guess is - shock? Surprise? Disbelief? When he does speak, his words come out soft and raspy, “You thought I- with...You thought I was dating-?” He takes a calming breath, visibly gathering himself, before trying again, “You thought I was dating...Kuroba. That’s why you...reacted like that?”
“Yes!” Shinichi says, despairingly. This is so mortifying he could die. “I know you must think I’m an idiot, but he really talks about you all the time! And you guys know each other in your civilian identity! I just assumed…” He covers his face with his hand, feels the way it heats his palm. “I wish I could tell him without having to explain this part.” His words come out muffled, but KID seems to hear anyway, because he lets out a snort, followed by a chuckle, and then quickly descends into a laughing fit that has him curling over his own belly, the sounds echoing across the alley.
“Wha- KID stop laughing!” Shinichi yelps, red-faced. “I’m never telling you anything again.”
KID lifts a hand up, breathing heavily between snickers, “I- I’m sorry, just-” he laughs again, a breathless relieved thing that has Shinichi feeling like he’s missed something. “I thought that- I thought you were grossed out, I thought-” He snorts. “I can’t believe you thought I was dating myself, oh my god. ”
Shinichi stops, plays the words again in his head, then again, then again, and still, they don’t add up. He licks his lips, trails his fingers down the seams of his jeans, says, “What,” and hears it comes out toneless, with no inflection. He licks his lips again, watches KID coming down from his hysterics, watches him unbend back to his full height then pull his cap from over his head and ruffle his hair.
“You like me.”
Shinichi stares. “Kuroba?”
“You like me,” KID - Kuroba - says again, a grin splitting his face. His eyes are a dark blue, the color of the ocean after a storm.
“What the hell,” Shinichi whispers, then steps forward and digs his heel into Kuroba’s foot, earning a well deserved howl of pain. It feels strangely satisfying, if only in the way it momentarily keeps his shock at bay.
Kuroba hops in place with one leg, holding onto his foot. “What’d you do that for?!”
“Reflex,” Shinichi says, swallowing around the lump growing in his throat. His knees feel weak, his heart drumming hard behind his breastbone. Of all things he expected when he came here tonight, this wasn’t one of them. “You’ve been KID this whole time?”
Kuroba makes a face. “KID’s been me this whole time.”
“Same thing.” Shinichi rolls his eyes, feels the recoil of a long time coming realization hitting him deep in his bones. He thinks he should have known, thinks he might have, at one point, back when the familiarity of Kuroba Kaito was still new and strange, and not the hard earned type that friends should only get after bonding over getting half their bag of fries eaten by a seagull at the docks. Shared experiences, shared anything - the kind they didn’t have when they first met, the kind that didn’t seem to matter at all, with how he felt like he’d known Kuroba for years every time he looked at him. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Just say you don’t care that I’m KID.”
Shinichi frowns. “Of course I care that you’re KID!”
Kuroba’s expression drops, the corners of his lips dipping. “Why?”
Which Shinichi thinks should be obvious, shouldn’t it? Of course he cares that Kuroba and KID are the same person, he’s been struggling with feelings for both of them for weeks, has been convinced they’d been together too, a flawless little couple made in the pits of hell for the sole purpose of ruining his love life with how perfect they both were and how much he liked them both. He doesn’t say that, of course, because he thinks he’s already revealed enough embarrassing things about his own misconceptions to last him a lifetime.
“Because you’re supposed to be two of my friends! And now you- you’re you! Them!” He makes a mindless gesture with his hands. “Together!” He shakes his head, blows air out of his cheeks. “Why did you tell me you were friends with KID?”
Kuroba winces. “Seemed easier than having you figure out the truth if you got curious.”
“You literally just willingly gave it up,” Shinichi points out, feeling the beginnings of a headache climbing up the back of his neck.
“Yeah,” Kuroba says, lips twitching on a half formed smile. “Because you like me.”
“Would you stop saying that?” Shinichi asks, flustered. “You like me too!” And isn’t that the kicker? KID likes him. There was never anything hopeless or impossible about any of it, only two people and a secret between them causing havoc.
“I do,” Kuroba nods and takes a small step forward. “You gonna stomp on my toes again?”
Shinichi pulls his lower lip between his teeth. “No.”
“Good,” Kuroba whispers, then leans in, butts his forehead softly against Shinichi’s. “Can we try that again, then?”
Shinichi feels a little dizzy at the proximity, the ends of his fingertips tingling with restless energy, so it takes him a moment to figure out what Kuroba’s talking about. “Again?” He pauses, mulls the words over, understands. “Oh,” he breathes, “okay.”
Kuroba hesitates just long enough that Shinichi ends up being the one to dip his head in, closing the distance between them and sliding their lips together, gentle and easy, water with no resistance. They separate just as quick, sharing a short heated look before falling back in, mouths fitting together like they belong. Kuroba tastes like mint bubblegum, a contrast to the taste of strawberry that still lingers on Shinichi’s tongue from the jam he ate on a toast before the heist. When they break apart again, he takes a moment to breathe in Kuroba’s scent and appreciate the fact they’re hidden away from the street and any prying eyes. The last thing they need right now is the task force tumbling in after them like a bunch of rabid dogs.
“Please tell Aoko to stop the silent treatment,” he whispers against Kuroba’s lips, and feels the rumble of his laugh where their chests are pressed together.
“She doesn’t even know what happened.”
“I don’t think she needs to. You’re her friend.”
Kuroba smiles, leaning down to rest his cheek on Shinichi’s shoulder, nose rubbing against his pulse. “She’s silly.”
“She’s a good friend,” Shinichi hums, wraps his arms around Kuroba’s waist. “Does she know?”
Kuroba drops a kiss on his neck. “Yeah. So does Hakuba.”
“Huh.”
“Also my friend Akako, but she only found out because of her magic mirror or something, I don’t really know the details.”
“Her what?”
“Nevermind.” Kuroba lifts his head and gives him a chaste kiss before fully leaning back up. “We should leave, Hakuba must be going insane wondering if you caught me.”
Shinichi frowns, steps back to let Kuroba pick up the headpiece which had been forgotten on the ground since the start of their confrontation. “I haven’t seriously tried to catch you in ages, he knows that.”
“Oh,” Kuroba smiles, crooked and surprised. He stashes the headpiece in the pocket of his hoodie and gets back up to curl a finger around Shinichi’s wrist. “You admit that?”
Shinichi stares at him, deadpan. “We just kissed.”
“So?”
“A lot of things are easier to say after that,” Shinichi tells him.
Kuroba’s eyes light up at his words. “Tell me you like me.”
He eyes him suspiciously. “Why?”
“You haven’t done it yet.”
“I-” Shinichi thinks back, realizes he’s right - he only said he liked Kuroba under his breath, while still under the impression he was talking to someone else - and frowns. “I like you.” He twists his hand and catches Kuroba’s in it, thumb pressing into the flesh of his palm. “I really like you.”
And apparently that’s enough to make Kuroba’s day, because he squeezes Shinichi’s hand and smiles like all is well with the world, eyes crinkling at the corners and cheeks a rosy red illuminated only by the dull light that slips into the alley.
“I really like you too.”
END.