Prompt: "Could you do a KaiShin fic where they meet each other families and friends for the first time properly. Any non M rating would be good."

Requestor: YukiOnnaOfWinter

Pairing: established Kaito x Shinichi

Note(s): I decided to split it into two different pieces – Kaito meeting Shinichi's friends/family, and then Shinichi meeting Kaito's friends/family – and then interlaced them. Hope that's okay?

Meeting the Family

Kaito wasn't sure if he should laugh or not.

He was going to go with not, considering that Ran did not look as if she was making a joke. Considering that her foot was centimeters from his throat and all.

"Tell me again," the karate champion hissed, and Kaito had never found a five-two girl any more terrifying, "who you are?"

"Kuroba Kaito, Shinichi's, um… significant other." Would she kill him if he said "lover"? What about "man"? Who knew?

Ran's eyes narrowed. Kaito fought the urge to spray her in the face with the canister of sleeping gas he had hidden under his shirt. Sure, Shinichi had insisted that he didn't do anything that could make future family dinners awkward, but had Shinichi really considered this situation? Kaito pressed up against the wall of the Mouri Detective Agency with his childhood friend about to crush his throat?

Actually… he probably had.

"If you are Shinichi's boyfriend," Ran snarled lowly, "then you should know what I'll do to you if you hurt him." Her foot hovered slightly closer.

Kaito nodded, his chin very barely missing her ankle. "I know." He almost smiled. "Although he'd probably kill me before you got the chance, to be honest."

Something lightened in Ran's face, and she lowered her leg carefully. "That's true. He does know all those ways to murder someone without getting caught."

Thanks for the reminder, Kaito thought dryly. He decided not to voice this particular thought aloud, though.

"So, do you want some tea or something?" Ran beamed, ridiculously brightly and as if she hadn't just had him at her mercy. She bounded for the kitchen. "I'll get some, okay?"

Breathing out, Kaito peeled himself off the wall and scanned the rest of the agency's occupants. At the desk by the window, Mouri Kogorou was eyeing him with disdain. On one couch, that tanned Osakan detective – Hattori Heiji, was it? – was openly glaring. Across from him sat Kudou Yuusaku and Kudou Yukiko, their backs towards him.

Kaito swallowed. This was going… well.

For most of his life, Shinichi hadn't considered a mop to be a viable weapon.

For most of his life, Shinichi had been wrong about mops.

He cleared his throat, smiling awkwardly. "Ah, excuse me…?"

In front of him, Aoko thrust the mop forward threateningly. "Yes?" Her expression fairly radiated danger. Shinichi felt his pulse hammering in his wrists. He'd faced down how many murderers, how many kidnappers, how many blackmailers? – and yet this was probably the most scared he'd ever been in his life.

"Would you please put down the mop?" he asked, lifting his hands carefully in an attempt to placate her.

"No." Her glare intensified. "I want you to know. This –" she shoved the mop a little closer, and Shinichi held back a wince, "– is what you'll face if you ever dare to hurt Kaito."

"Oh." That's what this was about? Shinichi had just sort of opened his front door to this – a short "I'm Nakamori Aoko, Kaito's best friend" and then a mop in his face. He bit back a smile. "Don't worry. If I ever did anything to Kaito, I'd hand you the mop."

A tiny smile flickered over Aoko's face, and she slowly moved the mop away from him. Shinichi breathed a sigh of relief."Okay. I can work with that."

"Are you done, Aoko-kun?" Hakuba asked where he was standing behind her, running a hand through his hair. He glanced to the side, motioning at where a car was pulling up alongside the house. "Kuroba-kun's mother is here."

Shinichi exhaled hard. He could totally do this.

Totally.

There was now a cup of steaming tea, as well as a widely smiling Ran and two blank-faced Kudous, sitting in front of Kaito. There was also Hattori, who fairly exuded malicious intent at his side. And then there was Kogorou, who was somehow both uninterested and annoyed at his desk.

Kaito very carefully reached for the teacup in complete and utter silence.

Finally, Yukiko shifted. "You're Toichi-san and Chikage-chan's son, aren't you?" Her voice was flat and emotionless. From what Kaito had heard about her usual demeanor, that was not a good sign.

"That's right, yes," Kaito nodded, trying his hardest to take a sip of tea without dropping his teacup. "You know my parents?"

"Yes, we do," Yuusaku cut in. Kaito was scared to meet his eyes. "Your dad was a good man."

"Th-Thank you."

Hattori snorted. "What do you even do, Kuroba? Are you a detective?"

"Uh…" The exact opposite, actually? "Not quite. I'm a magician."

The Osakan scoffed. "A magician." He muttered something that sounded dangerously like What's Kudou thinking, going out with a magician?

Kaito bit back a snarky reply.

Shinichi held the door open, pasting on a smile. "Go on in. We can talk in the library – third door on the right."

"Okay!" Aoko chirruped, bouncing past him and into the house. Hakuba followed after her with less enthusiasm.

Kuroba Chikage made her way up the front walk. She smiled affectionately at Shinichi, earrings bouncing against her cheeks. "Hello, Shinichi-kun."

"Hello, Kuroba-san."

"Just 'Chikage' is fine," she giggled, breezing through the doorway and leaning over to take off her heels. As she stepped into the slippers that Shinichi had laid out, she called over her shoulder, "Are your parents Yuusaku-kun and Yukiko-chan, by any chance?"

"That's right…" Shinichi turned, the door closing behind him. "How did you know?"

"Your mother took disguising lessons from my husband a good number of years ago." Chikage beamed widely at him.

"Oh, really?" Shinichi smiled, relaxing. Meeting Chikage wasn't as nerve-wracking as he'd thought it would be. He started down the hall to the library.

"Ah, Shinichi-kun?"

"Yes?" Shinichi peered back at Chikage.

Chikage grinned cheerfully at him. "I hope you know that if you ever let down my son, you will let down all of his fans." Her smile grew even wider. "And you will let down me, which is most likely worse. Do you understand?"

"…Yes."

He had spoken too soon, Shinichi thought as he tore his gaze from Chikage's smirk and hurried to the library, heart pounding.

"Not that I care," Kogorou finally spoke up, his chair creaking as he spun to face Kaito, "but why do you even like the detective brat?"

"Dad!" Ran reprimanded, scandalized.

Kogorou was unrepentant. "Hey, I don't know! The detective brat is a little –"

"Dad!"

"Uh… I don't know." Kaito broke in. He paused, feeling the weight of all the room's occupants' gazes glued to him and growing heavier by the second. "Well, he's beautiful. Not that," he quickly added, when Yukiko's gaze turned to stone, Ran rose menacingly to her feet, and Hattori's eyes narrowed, "that's all. I mean, yes, he's beautiful in looks, but he's also got his ironclad morals and his unshakeable opinions, which are beautiful, too, in their own way. I think they show his strength of character. And his sense of humor and his smile and his mind and his heart – they're all beautiful. He's just – such a beautiful person, overall." Kaito shrugged, absently lacing his fingers together. "That's why I love him – because he's beautiful, the most beautiful person I've ever known, and I don't think I'll ever find anyone half as beautiful as him again."

Realizing that the room had gone completely quiet, Kaito blinked and looked up. "I'm – Sorry, I didn't mean to ramble –"

"Aw, Kai-chan!" Kaito barely managed to see Yukiko launch herself across the table to hug him. He suddenly found himself with an armful of sobbing actress, and unsure of what to do, he patted her on the back.

Yukiko contorted to look at her husband. "Can we keep him? Please, Yuusaku, can we keep him?"

Yuusaku ran a hand through his hair wearily, though the corners of his mouth were twitching. "Yukiko, he's a person, not a dog."

"But Yuusaku~!" Yukiko squeezed Kaito tightly around the neck. Kaito almost choked.

Ran was misty-eyed, one hand pressed to her heart. "That's so sweet, Kaito-kun," she cooed, and Kaito blinked.

"Uh…"

"Whatever," Kogorou grumbled, spinning back around in his chair. That was probably the most recognition Kaito would ever get from him.

Hattori, on the other hand, still looked surly. "I don't think you deserve Kudou," he muttered. But his features softened slightly. "But as his best friend… I'm pretty okay with you, Kuroba."

Kaito suddenly felt light.

"Do you know what his birthday is?"

"And what his favorite color is?"

"What's your anniversary? If you miss it, I swear to God, Kudou-kun –"

"Yes! Exactly, Aoko-chan! Tell us, what's your anniversary?"

"Do you know how to cook? Can you make him a cake?"

"What's Kaito's favorite kind of chocolate?"

Shinichi blinked, hands lifted in an attempt to ward off the litany of questions. "Er…"

From where he was inspecting Shinichi's first-edition copy of A Scandal in Bohemia, Hakuba sighed. "Aren't you guys overwhelming Kudou-kun?"

Aoko and Chikage both whirled on him. "This is Kaito we're talking about!" they snapped in unison, and Hakuba rolled his eyes, pulling away from the bookshelf.

"Yes, it's your precious Kuroba-kun, and yes, you don't want him to get hurt. I understand. But I feel as if you're both missing the point of the relationship." He padded forward until he was standing beside Aoko. "It's easy to know things like Kuroba-kun's birthday, their anniversary, how to make a cake, types of chocolate. Those are all simple. Both of you know them, right?"

At Aoko and Chikage's twin nods, Hakuba held up his hands as if to say exactly. "So that doesn't make a relationship. A relationship is more than that." He finally turned to look Shinichi directly. "What's most important is this: Do you make Kuroba-kun happy?"

"I…" Shinichi stuttered to a stop, suddenly finding his feet very interesting. "I don't know. Maybe not."

The temperature in the room seemed to drop several thousand degrees.

"But maybe I do," Shinichi hastily continued. "I can only hope that I do. All I know, really, is that Kaito makes me happy. I mean, there's no one else who can fix me up like him, you know? Sometimes I have really, really bad days, and nobody can deal with me except for him. He just sweeps in, all sunshine and smiles, and I can't even attempt to stay upset. I'm just so – lucky to be able to even know him, and I'm unspeakably thankful for that. So while I don't know if I make him happy, I do know that I want to be the one who does, above all else. And if the time comes that I can make him happy by letting him go, I'm prepared to do that." He swallowed hard. "Until then, I'm just going to do my best."

Chikage, Aoko, and Hakuba were speechless, gaping at him.

Shinichi flinched. Had he said too much? He opened his mouth, about to try to explain away his little speech, but Chikage reached over to pat him on the shoulder.

"Okay, Shinichi-kun. Okay," was all she said.

"Well, as long as you're trying," Aoko sniffed, but there was an upward curl to her lips. Hakuba's slight smile was enough reassurance.

Shinichi breathed out.

Weirdly enough, when I finished writing this, I realized how well the songs "Beautiful" fit Kaito's description of Shinichi and "Happy" fit Shinichi's of Kaito. Both of them are by Secrets in Stereo, in case you're interested in listening to them.

Anyway, I hope I fulfilled your hopes for this fic, YukiOnnaOfWinter. Fourth request filled! Again, requests are still open. More info on my profile.

See you soon! – Luna