Well, uh, this turned out a lot longer than I was planning, so... apologies for the choppy, drawn-out plot? Yeah.

Warnings include shounen-ai (no, really), possible grammar mistakes / errors, and "snippets" storytelling. Because that's the only way I know how to write stories that span large amounts of time, apparently.

Hope you enjoy! - Luna

Stick Around

we will never be as young as we are now;

the faces in the crowd are thinning out.

and i'm not saying stick around,

but stick around.

– "as young as we are now" by saint raymond

The masked figure crept forward, towards where the unsuspecting woman was standing on the balcony. The knife in his hand gleamed, flashing like quicksilver in the light of the full moon. A smile twisted his lips, and then he raised the knife –

"Hey, Shin-chan!"

With a loud, over-exaggerated groan, Shinichi slammed his book shut and tipped his head back to scowl at the indigo-eyed boy standing over him. "Kaito, can't you see I'm busy?" he whined petulantly. His small hands ran reverently over the cover of the book in his lap. "Dad's new book just came out, and he finally let me read it."

Kaito wrinkled his nose in distaste. "Why do you spend all your time reading about that kind of gross stuff?" he wondered, plopping down ungracefully beside Shinichi. He stretched out his legs in front of him, admiring the view from underneath the big tree in the Kudous' front yard. It was a late June day, one that was just the right combination of warm and breezy, and Kaito smiled to himself as he glanced over at Shinichi. It wasn't often that he got to see Shinichi, so he was glad that his parents had been willing to come all the way out to Beika today.

"It's not gross," Shinichi answered defensively, clutching the book protectively to his chest. He pouted, staring off into the distance. "It's really cool, the way the detectives always catch the bad guys. And they're all really smart, too."

"Whatever," Kaito muttered before his face brightened and he swung around to grin at Shinichi. "Anyway, I wanted to show you this!" He extended his right arm, fingers curled inwards, and beamed at Shinichi.

The other boy blinked at him, lifting one eyebrow in bemusement. "What's that supposed to do?"

Ignoring Shinichi's sulky comment, Kaito just smiled all the wider. "Just watch!" He bit his bottom lip, seeming to concentrate hard.

After a few silent moments, Shinichi frowned and made to reopen his book. "This is boring. If you're not going to do anything, I'm going back to my book –"

He cut himself off when a rose sprung from Kaito's fist, crimson-petaled and green-stemmed, and Shinichi stared for a second, jaw dropping, before he quickly shut his mouth and rolled his eyes. "It's just a stupid magic trick," he grumbled. "I should've known."

Kaito smirked. "Here, take it, Shin-chan," he urged, thrusting the rose in Shinichi's face, and Shinichi exhaled heavily before he pulled it warily from Kaito's grasp.

Satisfied, Kaito leaned back on his hands. "My dad showed me how to do it on my birthday last week!" he said excitedly. "I've been practicing to show you, Shin-chan!"

"For… me?"

"For Shin-chan!"

"O-Oh." At a loss, Shinichi stared down at the rose in his hands. It was a nice rose, he thought to himself. "Thanks, I guess."

"Yeah, no problem!" Kaito smiled at him before flopping across Shinichi's lap. He tugged Shinichi's book out of his hands, much to Shinichi's horror, and flipped open to a random page. "What's this about, anyway?" He squinted at the neat print. "'Hiyama lifted his hand to point at the man in the middle. "You're the murderer!" he called, and the man froze…'"

"Stop reading spoilers out loud!" Shinichi squawked, smashing his hands over his ears. "I haven't gotten to that part yet!"

"Hmm…" Kaito blinked, then closed the book and rolled onto his back so he could look up at Shinichi. "I don't get it. What's so great about being a detective?"

"You can bring people to justice!" Shinichi snapped, yanking the book from Kaito's hands. "And you get to help people! I wanna be a detective when I grow up. In fact, I'm already a detective, you know. I solved a case yesterday. I found my mom's missing lipstick."

"But I still don't get it," Kaito muttered, sticking out his bottom lip thoughtfully. "It seems like if you're a detective, you have to deal with a lot of gross stuff. Like bodies and blood and stuff. You know?"

"Well," Shinichi huffed indignantly, "what's so great about being a magician, then?"

Kaito sat bolt upright, mouth falling open. "What's not great about being a magician?" he demanded, slamming his hands down on Shinichi's thighs (Shinichi winced and glared reproachfully). "You get to make people happy! You get to be on the stage! There's lights and sparkles and people love you!"

Shoving Kaito's hands off of him, Shinichi rearranged himself primly. "I don't see why that sounds so great," he sniffed, rolling his eyes in a manner far more condescending than his six years of life would usually imply. "If you're a detective, lots of people want to take pictures of you when you solve cases. And people write articles about you."

Sitting back on his heels, Kaito puffed out his cheeks. "Fine! You're a detective, right?"

"Yeah!"

"Then let's make a bet! If you ever quit being a detective, then you have to do what I say for a week!"

"How does that make sense?" Shinichi crossed his arms over his chest.

"Because if being a detective is really as good as you say it is, then you'll never quit, right?"

Shinichi stopped to think about it. It did make sense, sort of. "Okay!" he agreed. "I'll do it."

Kaito nodded solemnly. "Good."

"Yeah," Shinichi nodded before a thought occurred to him. "Hey, what about you?"

"Huh?"

"If I make that bet with you, then you have to do something, too!" Shinichi set his jaw. "So what if you quit being a magician? You should have to do what I want for a week, too!"

With a sigh of longsuffering, Kaito shrugged. "Whatever, sure." He met Shinichi's eyes sternly. "If you ever quit being a detective, then you have to do whatever I say for a week."

"And if you ever quit being a magician, then you have to do whatever I say for a week."

They shook on it, both wearing their most serious faces.

Far off, the door to the Kudou mansion opened, and Kuroba Chikage emerged. "Kaito? Shinichi-kun?" she called, glancing around the front yard until she spotted the two of them sitting underneath the tree. "Oh, Kaito, Shinichi-kun. Do you want something to eat?"

"Yeah!" both Kaito and Shinichi replied simultaneously, and they hurried for the front door, Shinichi barely remembering to pick up his book before he did.

"Mom?"

Yukiko looked up from where she was flipping through one of her magazines. Shinichi was standing warily in the doorframe, wearing an expression halfway between confused and hesitant.

"Yes, Shin-chan?" She set down her magazine and smiled encouragingly at her son. He was acting a little strange, she noted to herself with some concern. What could this be about?

"Well…" Shinichi's lip caught between his teeth. He seemed to struggle with himself for a moment – emotions flashed across his face in quick succession – and Yukiko waited, smile never faltering.

Appearing to reach a decision, Shinichi drew himself up and met Yukiko's gaze. "I was just… you know how I used to spend time with that Kaito guy when I was younger?" He shrunk back a little. "I don't know… It's been a really long time since I last saw him. Like… a couple years, right?"

Oh. Yukiko's face fell, smile crumbling to pieces on her lips. She had been expecting Shinichi to ask eventually, just not today. He had probably sensed it would be better not to ask, which would explain how uncharacteristically tentative he was.

"Shinichi, come here," Yukiko called softly, holding out her arms to him, and Shinichi blinked, uncomprehending, before he crossed the room and let her wrap her arms around him.

"Shin-chan," Yukiko began, her mouth right by Shinichi's ear, "Shin-chan, I'd love for you to see Kai-chan again. I really would. But Kai-chan's mom doesn't want us to see them anymore." She felt Shinichi stiffen beneath her hands, and she swallowed. "You know, you might have heard, but Kai-chan's dad was… he passed away in an accident. But Kai-chan's mom thinks it might not have been an accident."

"You mean…" Shinichi gasped in surprise. "She thinks it was a murder?"

"Maybe." Yukiko patted Shinichi on the head, pushing him back to meet his eyes. "That's why Kai-chan's mom doesn't want us to get involved with them, because we might be at risk if the people who hurt Kai-chan's dad try to use us as a weakness to get to Kai-chan and his family. You understand, right?"

Shinichi nodded jerkily. Yukiko smiled to herself. How could he not understand, when he'd read all of Yuusaku's books three times over?

"Why doesn't Kaito's mom just go to the police, then?" Shinichi asked, and Yukiko shook her head.

"There's no real evidence that Kai-chan's dad was killed. There would be no case." Yukiko leaned forward to kiss Shinichi on the cheek. "That's why we can't see them anymore, okay?"

"Okay." Wide-eyed, Shinichi turned to exit the library. Yukiko was reaching for her magazine – that had gone better than expected – when Shinichi abruptly turned back around. "But what about our bet?"

"Huh?" Caught off guard, Yukiko stared quizzically at her son. "What bet, Shin-chan?"

"I made a bet with Kaito," Shinichi explained, bottom lip protruding slightly. It was the closest Yukiko had seen her precocious son ever get to pouting. "If I quit being a detective, then I'd have to do what he said for a week, and if he quit being a magician, he'd have to do what I said for a week." His brow furrowed. "But if I don't see Kaito, then how will I know if he's quit?"

"Well…" Yukiko paused to think. "I think what's more important is that you don't quit being a detective. Then you'll never have to do what he says, right?"

"Hm…" Shinichi considered it for a moment before he nodded. "That makes sense, I guess." His face brightened. "And if I'm a detective, then I can solve who killed Kaito's dad, and then I can see Kaito again!"

Yukiko had to smile. "That's right," she said quietly, and Shinichi beamed at her.

Somehow, she didn't doubt that Shinichi would do just that.

There was a very odd moment when, as the magician in white turned over one shoulder to smile condescendingly at Shinichi, that Shinichi felt as if he'd met Kid before. Somewhere. Somehow.

Sticky hands, late June days, arguments over whether magicians or detectives were better…?

He banished the thought immediately, though. There was no way Shinichi had met such an irritating, overhyped gentleman thief before. He doubted he would forget something as important as that. No. There was no way.

So Shinichi drew himself up (and for a second, he thought he almost saw a glimmer of recognition, of surprise in Kid's eyes, but who was he kidding, the thief's eyes were well hidden underneath the monocle and the hat, it would be impossible to see actual emotions there) and smirked as devilishly as he could.

"Hey there, Kid. You may not know who I am right now, but you will soon enough."

Kid shrugged, rolling back his shoulders so his cape blew outwards in the night breeze. "Oh, but you underestimate me, tantei-kun. Kudou Shinichi."

For the longest time after that, Shinichi wondered how Kid had known his name.

"Dammit," Shinichi swore under his breath as he shoved through the crowd, ignoring the squeals of indignation and irritated growls he received in return. He'd just seen Kid – or rather, Kid's disguise of a tall brunette in a gray sweater – but where had he gone?

There were too many people, he thought with annoyance as he finally broke through the last row of people and was finally able to breathe again. Glancing around the walkway in front of the museum, Shinichi managed to catch sight of a fleeting shadow flashing into the small copse of trees on the left.

Mouth twisting, Shinichi broke into a run, chasing after the shadow. He swore internally. It was so dark – how the hell was Kid maneuvering through this place –

The thought was cut off when Shinichi tripped over something – something too soft to be a tree root, he realized belatedly, something just like a leg – and before he could get out a word, a gloved hand clamped over his mouth, muffling any protest he could have made.

"My, my, tantei-kun." Kid's voice seemed to come from nowhere, making Shinichi flinch perceptibly. He shuddered as Kid's lips brushed the shell of his ear, breath hot against his cheek. The magician's free arm snaked neatly around Shinichi's torso, his fingertips running lightly across Shinichi's collarbone. "Running through the forest at night can be dangerous, you know."

With a low growl, Shinichi stomped down on Kid's foot hard, eliciting a grunt of pain from Kid, and wrenched out of his hold. "I could sue you for sexual harassment," he muttered, swiping furiously at his face. He didn't doubt that he was flushed, but it was dark enough that Kid probably couldn't see.

"Oh, but first you'd have to find my civilian identity," Kid replied casually, leaning against a tree. His monocle flashed in the moonlight.

"I could. If I wanted," Shinichi mumbled darkly, but both he and Kid knew it was an empty threat. Not the part about Shinichi being able to – Shinichi probably could, with how he'd known Kid for nearly four years now and how much information he'd accumulated within those four years – but the part about him wanting to. He'd never want to see Kid caged, not really. And that was why they could carry on like this.

"Mm." Kid just hummed quietly. He tilted his head to one side, curiously regarding Shinichi in the silence.

Shinichi began to feel vaguely uncomfortable as minutes passed and Kid didn't move. The moonlight peering through the clouds cast vague shadows across his face, different shades of dark, and Shinichi shifted. He wanted to say something, anything to fill the silence, but the way Kid was standing so still and so silent made it hard.

Finally Kid spoke. His voice was low. "You weren't yourself earlier."

"Huh?"

"I actually made it all the way out of the museum. You only caught up to me out here. That's never happened before." Kid paused purposefully. "There's something wrong, I can tell."

"What?" Shinichi's head jerked up at his words. Something descended to the pit of his stomach. He swallowed – was he really that transparent?

"Tantei-kun," Kid said, equal parts pained and patronizing, "don't think I'm not observant just because I'm not a detective. I can tell, you know. When you're feeling off."

"You…" Exhaling hard, Shinichi looked away from Kid and his apparently all-seeing eyes. "Okay, yes, there's something wrong."

"Care to elaborate?" Kid was the epitome of nonchalant, yet Shinichi still heard the underlying message. It's fine if you don't want to tell me, it said, it's fine if I'm not the person you want to talk with. It's fine.

Shinichi almost smiled. "It's nothing too big," he started, then stopped. He clamped his bottom lip between his teeth. "It's just… I get involved in a lot of cases, you know?"

"I do," Kid answered neutrally. His expression was impossible to read, Shinichi noted with slight resignation, with the way his hat was tipped forward just enough to throw his eyes into darkness.

"And those cases – they can get dangerous sometimes. There are murderers and blackmailers and drug addicts and all of that." Shinichi exhaled slowly through his nose and let himself collapse against the tree trunk behind him. "Ran got taken hostage earlier today, at one of my heists."

"I see." Kid didn't say anything else for a second before he gently added, "You know that Mouri-san can handle herself, right?"

"Of course I know that." Shinichi scowled impatiently, running a hand through his hair. "Of course I know Ran's more than capable of taking care of herself. I've been on the receiving end of way too many roundhouse kicks not to know that. But at the same time… I just… I don't want to ever have to put her in that kind of situation to begin with. She shouldn't have to be able to defend herself from murderers on a daily basis." He let out a frustrated sound, burying his face in his hands. "It's not right."

The wind rustled through the trees. Kid didn't speak for a long, long time before softly, barely loud enough to be heard, he asked, "So what are you going to do?"

Shinichi gave a self-deprecating laugh. It echoed, through the trees and the air and Shinichi's own heart. "What do you think? What's the only real way I can protect everyone I care about?"

"You can't quit," Kid said simply. It was a statement more than anything, oddly enough, and Shinichi slanted his head curiously at him.

"What are you trying to say?"

"Think about it, tantei-kun." Kid straightened, the sole of his boot scraping against the tree bark as he did. His cape fluttered behind him. "You've already made enough enemies that at this point, quitting won't do much if you're really trying to protect people. And isn't detective work your passion? Nobody would want you to stop because you're endangering them. You might not know it, but people love you so much that they'd rather die than see you stop doing what makes you happy. Me included."

Something about his phrasing struck Shinichi as odd, and Shinichi frowned. The implications of that sounded a little… "Is that supposed to mean –"

"And anyway," Kid interrupted smoothly, his familiar, enigmatic smile firmly in place as he snapped his hang glider open and maneuvering to avoid trees during his takeoff, "if you quit being a detective, you have to do whatever I say for a week."

Shinichi's brow furrowed as he watched Kid in confusion. "I have to… do what you…"

Wait… what? There was something dangerously familiar about those words; something was tugging at the corner of Shinichi's mind –

Before Shinichi could inhale, much less demand an explanation, Kid was gone, streaking through the sky like a well-dressed comet, and Shinichi was left staring blankly after him.

"Ah, Shin-chan, isn't it late in Japan? I mean, it's only about nine in the morning over here, of course, but isn't it two in the –"

"Mom, you know how I used to hang out with that one guy when I was a kid?"

"Which guy, Shin-chan?"

"You know, the one whose dad died and that was why we couldn't see them. Kai… Kaito, or something?"

"Oh, of course! Chikage-chan's son, Kai-chan?"

"Uh, yes, I suppose. Do you remember if we… I don't know, we had some game about what would happen if I stopped being a detective?"

"Mm… I don't really… oh, that's right!"

"What?"

"There was something like that, I think – wasn't it if you quit being a detective, you'd have to do whatever Kai-chan said for a week, and if he quit being a magician, he'd have to do whatever you said for a week? Something like that, I think?"

Silence.

"Shin-chan? Are you still there?"

"…I'm still here."

"Anyway, is that all you wanted?"

"No, actually. You… wouldn't happen to know Kaito's address, would you?"

"Funnily enough, I do. Chikage-chan sent me an email the other day talking about how they finally moved. Do you want it?"

"Yes. Could you give it to me?"

Kaito's face, which had been dismissive as he opened the door, turned absolutely ashen when he realized that Shinichi was standing on his doorstep.

There was a long silence, one that stretched on and on as Kaito just stared and Shinichi just stared back, before Kaito finally gave a strangled chuckle and ran a hand through his hair. "You really… you found me. Wow."

"I did," Shinichi replied calmly, though his heart was slapping furiously against his ribcage and he couldn't tear his gaze away from Kaito. Kaito was even more beautiful than he'd expected, wearing a tattered gray t-shirt and a pair of loose sweatpants, with his hair sticking up in the back and his cheeks a little pink. He was drop-dead gorgeous.

"So." Kaito leaned heavily against the doorframe. "I guess I gave myself away with what I said, didn't I?"

"To be honest, yes." Shinichi nodded, almost apologetic. "You did." He scuffed one foot against the doorstep. "Never would've thought that little Kaito was the Kaitou Kid."

"Never would've thought that little Shin-chan was the Great Detective of the East," Kaito retorted, but there was a hint of a curve to his mouth as he glanced around his empty front yard. Conversationally, he remarked, "You know, I'm not seeing any police or handcuffs, so I have this weird feeling that you're not trying to get me arrested."

Shinichi couldn't help but smirk at that. "Oh, really?" He angled his head to one side. "That makes sense, as I'm not interested in getting you arrested. If I did, you'd have to quit being a magician, and then you'd have to do whatever I say for a week."

Kaito's eyes widened, clearly reading you remembered?, and he regarded Shinichi with eyebrows raised before a slow smile worked its way across his lips. "But wouldn't you like that?"

"Well…" Shinichi stopped, considering, before he grinned. "I would, actually. But at the same time…" He sucked in a deep breath. "At the same time, I don't want the person I love to stop doing what makes him happiest, so I think I'll hold back on the arresting part."

For some ridiculous reason, Shinichi couldn't bring himself to meet Kaito's eyes. The silence was too shocked, too disbelieving, for him to want to see what kind of expression Kaito was wearing. With every second that passed, Shinichi felt himself sink a little deeper. There was no way he'd get a favorable reaction out of Kaito, even if Kaito had insinuated some weird things. That's all he'd done, insinuated, not stated, so it would make sense if Kaito hadn't meant anything serious about anything he'd implied –

"Lucky me."

Shinichi's head jerked up at that, his eyebrows raised. "What?"

Kaito was smiling the world's sappiest smile as he looked at Shinichi. "Nothing," he responded, one hand lifting to attempt to rub the curl from his lips (it didn't work). "I was just thinking how I'm so lucky to love someone who loves me."

…Oh.

And then Shinichi's face probably matched Kaito's, because he knew he was grinning like an idiot, but at the same time, he couldn't bring himself to care. "Oh," he said. "Oh, okay."

"You want to come in?" Kaito gestured behind him into his house, and Shinichi beamed.

"Of course."

On a mostly unrelated note, I'm looking for a new picture to make my profile icon (I've had the same one for a pretty long time, after all), so if anyone has any recommendations, it would be awesome if they could send them in. I know FF's weird about links, but it would be super epic if anyone could try. Thanks in advance~!

Please drop me a review if you were even mildly entertained, okay? Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Americans, and I'll be back soon with another fic! Kisses! - Luna