So this is a story that I'm pretty excited to write right now. My intent is for it to be fairly long. In the anime, KID has known Conan's identity as Shinichi for a while(as of the third movie), in the manga however, he never found out. I'm going to be going by a mix of the non-canon anime heists as well as the manga and accepted canon ones. In this story KID does not know that Conan and Shinichi are one and the same. All the heists that have happened so far both canon and non-canon have happened in this fanfiction, but since KID did not know Conan was Shinichi, some of them happened slightly differently.

This chapter has a lot packed into it, I do hope you enjoy it anyways. It's more of an introductory chapter so the pacing will jump from place to place. I skipped most of the scenes that didn't have to do with setting up the story or KID and Conan's growing affinity for each other so yeah. Next chapter will introduce a steady daily life pace. I started this chapter at 3 in the morning, I'm in too deep.

Disclaimer: I do not own DCMK.
Genres: Romance, crime, hurt/comfort, supernatural, friendship.
Warnings: DCMK SPOILERS throughout story. Future KaiShin/KaiCo. Murder cases. This is going to be a long one…

The wind rushed through the chilly night basking the city of Beika with another thin sheet of snow. A young boy lay still in his bed, under his blanket and sheets, not noticing the outside cold under the warmth of his blanket. Today…there had been two murder cases… Over such ridiculous things too. Conan opened his slightly puffed eyes, hidden away from the rest of the world. Hidden from even the other occupant of this very room, his childhood friend, Ran.

Just a year ago, she had been annoyed with him, or rather her own childhood friend, 'Shinichi' for being so desensitized to the cases surrounding him. At the time, he had told her that you get used to it. These things just happen, and all you can do is your best to put the culprits who committed the crimes behind bars so that they couldn't do it again. In the hopes that they would use the time spent in there to learn from their mistakes. Sometimes though…enough was just that…enough.

Conan was so tired of everything. All the grief, the misunderstandings, the stabbings, the gunshots, the poison, the pushes, the threats, the suspicion, the greed, the irony, the motives, the loss. He was exhausted. Why had he ever wanted to be a detective? Now all he wanted for it was to stop. He used to think that stumbling into cases showed just how much potential he had to be a detective. That the latent ability to be near cases was just part of the makings of a great detective. All the Night Baron and Sherlock Holmes stories he'd read as a kid romanticized the idea. His quick thinking and deductive capabilities, as well as the rush that came along with solving a tricky mystery, helped nail in the dream of becoming a true detective. He was already famous before he finished high school with all the cases he'd solved.

Ran had called him horrible… That he could care so little about someone's death after it had happened. She had said that she didn't think she'd ever not cry at something so sad. And here they were, over a year later. The desensitized detective, unable to sleep because he was just so done with all the tragic cases that always happened around him. The crybaby best friend, sleeping peacefully after witnessing two gruesome murders. Not that he could blame her, she had seen so many by now, they were practically a daily occurrence. Even the Detective Boys were used to it by now. They didn't even question when a dead body showed up anymore, on the contrary, they would quickly get out some gloves and start collecting evidence. Taking pictures with their cells and looking for hints as to the hows and whys of the body's position. He felt sick, he was the one who taught them that.

Most kids were excited for the weekend. School was over, they could play outside with their friends, go to the park, visit another town, stay indoors and play video games—or just take a much needed break. Conan didn't have that option. If he went outside, he would run into a case. If he stayed at the agency, a case would come to him. Statistically, the amount of cases around him was outrageous, theoretically impossible. He was beyond worn down. All he wanted to do was sleep. To get away from the nasty cases and nightmares associated with them. To take a break for once since the start of his goddamn detective career. It almost made him wish the whole world would just end already. If all that there was to the world was hate and revenge, then what was the point in even protecting it?

Conan forced his eyes back shut. No, he couldn't let himself think like that. He had to go to sleep before any other toxic thoughts clouded his mind.

Conan yawned loudly, hiding it behind his hand as he looked at the food in front of him. An egg, toast, and a cup of juice were laid out neatly in front of him. He started munching on the toast, mind invaded by his late night thoughts from mere hours ago. It was a little later into the morning than he would wake up on school days, but still fairly early for the weekend. Okino Yoko had an early live performance this morning that Kogoro wouldn't miss for all the booze in the world. And with Kogoro getting up early, Ran decided to get up early with him to make breakfast and enjoy the morning. Since Ran had gotten up early…it was only natural the boy she roomed with would be woken by the noise.

A boy who had gotten very little sleep, he might add. The noises of Ran scolding her dad, and Kogoro goofing off and yelling at the TV while drinking his first can of beer of the day became background noise as Conan shuffled through his thoughts. It would be nice if he could just go back to bed. Cases never seemed to happen when he was asleep. He knew that things like that had to be coincidental, at the same time, however, when you started to be able to predict things based on merely how often they occurred—it became hard to ignore the patterns surrounding him. 'Eh?' Conan blinked at the screen, Okino Yoko's performance had just cut to commercial. The TV was showing a Kaitou KID heist notice. The reporter was talking about how the police had received the note a few days ago, and were still no closer to solving it. The set time seemed to be tonight.

At midnight four days from now,
I will meet with the crimson goddess,
to steal her precious ring.

-KID

Conan frowned, it seemed pretty straightforward as far as heist notices went. The crimson goddess could be referring to a goddess of war, death, deceit, or love. The ring could easily be a marital one. A ring with a jewel on it that wasn't all that well known, it had to be something either hidden from the public, or just overlooked. If he's talking about meeting with a goddess, the location would have to be either a place of worship, or a place with connections to deities or the afterlife. A simple solution to this would be either a graveyard, or a shrine of some sort.

Conan would like to think that KID had enough tact not to steal from inside a crypt, but a certain egg related heist reminded him otherwise. Still, it was more likely that he was referring to a shrine. Probably a shrine with a history of bloodshed, if he was to consider in the traits of the goddess worshipped. He pulled his smartphone out of his pocket, quickly scrolling through nearby shrine listings. He read through them, singling out those with criminal pasts and goddesses. He eventually narrowed it down to a small temple in the next town over. There was a shrine in the back holding what was said to be the ring of a wicked goddess who brought about her only death and destruction. The ring had been displayed years ago, but after an attempted robbery, the temple moved it into storage. It was said that it was still on the temple grounds. Conan ate the rest of his food quickly before heading over to Ran.

"Ne, Ran-neechan?" He prompted.

Ran turned to him curiously, "What is it Conan-kun?"

"Can I spend the night at the Professor's house tonight? Can I, can I please?" Conan tugged at her shirt sleeve, whining like a kid.

"I suppose you can, just remember to go to bed early and bring a spare set of clothes." She reminded him, not really bothered with the idea.

"I will, thanks!" He ran off to get his stuff. He wanted to head over there early so that he had time to look around the shrine and find where the ring was kept. It was still morning and he was tired, but it had been a while since he had last gone to a heist, and he was excited to try to outwit KID again. The temple he had chosen was short, the only way KID could escape would be by disguising himself as another person, but if the only one at the scene was a child… Conan smirked, KID wouldn't be getting away so easily this time. Ironically, it was advantageous that the police hadn't deciphered the notice. If they had, KID would be able to use them as his means of escape.

Conan hurried off to the Professor's and asked him to drive him to the temple. Once there, he discovered that the ring was kept in a safe behind the inner offering box. He then looked around at the rest of the temple, still no signs of the police. There were a few people praying and some shrine workers there, but nothing out of the ordinary. He had asked the head priest to show him the ring earlier and watched him press the numbers in. He and the Professor stayed at a distance after that, waiting for night to come. As more and more people left the temple, Conan snuck in. He quickly pressed the numbers, opening the safe. He looked at his watch, 11:50PM. Just ten minutes left…He let out a breath of air, before getting in the safe and shutting it. The biggest pro of being so small was that he could fit in places where he would be the least expected.

Conan had to bend down to fit in, but there was still enough room for him to wriggle around. He shifted so that he was directly facing the door, and opened his watch to point at it. 11:52PM. He steadied his breathing as best he could, silencing himself as to not make any noise indicating life or movement. All that was left now was to wait. 11:53PM. 11:54PM. 11:55PM. 11:56PM. 11:57PM. 11:58PM. 11:59PM.

"Three…" His breath caught when he heard the magician's voice. "Two…One…!" 12:00AM. He heard a quiet tap of a foot touching the ground, most likely landing from an overhead entry. He could practically see KID grinning at his surroundings, "They really didn't figure the note out did they?" He heard KID mumbling to himself, "I didn't think it was that difficult." KID laughed a little, and Conan realized that he was spraying something on the safe. "Too easy, too easy." Conan couldn't wait to see his face when he opened up the safe to find him in there.

KID started punching in the code, and Conan looked clearly through the target markings on his watch, ready to take shot. The door swung open and he immediately pressed the button on the side of his watch, releasing the needle.

"Woah!" KID's eyes widened at him, instantaneously rolling to the side at seeing his aimed watch, "C-Chibitantei?!"

Conan crawled out of the safe, aiming another needle, "In the flesh." He released it, this one KID dodged with superb skill, and Conan's watch was unfortunately already out of needles.

KID grinned, bowing down, "How nice of you to come to my show tonight."

"What show?" Conan taunted, "There's no one here to watch."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong. There's an audience of one." He tilted his hat, pigeons swarming out of it. Two of them landed on Conan's shoulders, weighing them down. By the time he could see through the feathers and birds, KID was already at the entrance, ring in hand.

"Too bad, you were pretty close with that first shot. See you around, Meitantei." KID turned abruptly, causing his cape to flutter in the air.

Conan ran to catch up with him, slowed by the birds, "Wait!" He peered forward, barely able to make out KID mixing in with the white of the snow around them.

"Hm?" KID paused.

As Conan went forward, KID always seemed to be the same distance away, "When will your next heist be?"

KID blinked, before putting a hand to his mouth in good humor, "Well I guess I can tell you. As a reward for being the only one to figure out my riddle. I do make them to be solvable you know. Next Wednesday I'm planning to take a very pretty brooch that's flying in. I'm going to be sending out the notice tomorrow. I do hope to see you there."

"Wouldn't miss it." Conan said, wanting to say something witty in response but too busy trying to figure out how he could stop KID from leaving tonight.

KID chuckled, and with a snap of his fingers, he was gone, his pigeons flying after him. Conan sighed, upset at having barely put up a fight. Then again, KID had probably come prepared for the whole task force to show up, so it was an acceptable loss. The short lived rush of excitement was dwindling away as he walked back to the Professor's car. He hadn't had fun like that in a while. There was a sense of dread filling his stomach about going home, however. The fact that there wasn't a case all day today…meant that he was more than likely to run into one tomorrow.

True to his word, KID sent out another heist notice the following day. He added a teasing remark about them never figuring out his last notice as well, and claimed that this was all the taskforce was with Hakuba on vacation. Well, that wasn't exactly what he had said, but he had strongly indicated the lack of solving the riddle being due to a lack of a certain foreign detective. Conan immediately got to work solving the new heist notice, it was even simpler than the last one, probably to make sure that people could figure it out. KID loved large audiences after all.

After Conan solved the note, the agency's phone rang and Conan knew that it was another case. Any comfort or satisfaction he had felt moments before from solving the notice so quickly was gone.

Time went by, and Conan became increasingly more involved in catching KID. The news reporters were getting a kick at the KID Killer back in action and going strong. Each heist got him closer and closer to catching KID, and he knew that KID was starting to worry about him. There were countless murder cases throughout Conan's days between the heists, but somehow whenever he was at one, they didn't happen.

He had started to become a little obsessive, spending all of his free time solving heist notices, and looking at blueprints of where KID had sent notices for. The end of winter had passed into the start of spring, and Conan's friends were starting to worry about him. Conan got closer and closer to catching KID, and eventually, he did. He felt lost when it happened, his only escape would be gone. The addicting adrenaline rush that came from the battle between their minds would be over. And the pure-hearted thief would spend the rest of his days in prison, or worse.

Conan stared from his hiding place, watching as KID's expression went from surprised at being caught off guard, to terrified at having been trapped. When KID crawled into a vent, Conan had melded the entrance that he had used and cooled it. Earlier, he had melded a thick sheet of metal a few meters into the vent as well. Effectively trapping both KID and blocking off the flow of air conditioning. KID kicked at the sides frantically, before stopping at the loud sound. He cursed quietly to himself.

"It's no use. The only way out is to melt the metal around you." Conan spoke up, making the thief still at the voice, there wasn't enough room in the vent to turn around to face him.

"Chibitantei, huh?" KID let out a humorless chuckle, "Of course, who else could it have been…?" Conan lowered his head, staying silent at the frantic tone.

"Do you really hate me that much?" KID asked quietly.

Conan lifted his head, "What?" No, he didn't hate KID at all, in fact it was more the opposite.

KID frowned, squirming around the vent to face him, somehow being able to make the limited amount of space work for him, he was staring directly at Conan now. "Why do you want me caught so badly? You've been chasing me relentlessly for the past 2 months."

Conan looked away, unable to look him in the eyes. The triumph of victory being washed out by the guilt settling in his stomach. For all of the heist planning he had never really thought about what he would do if he had caught him. Instead of answering him, he sat down, leaning his head against the wall below the vent. "What are you looking for, KID?"

"Does it really matter? There's no way for me to get out of here, you said it yourself." KID pushed idly on the vent, knowing that it wasn't going to open so easily, but not about to just not try. "I won't be finding anything behind bars." He got out a lighter and a flask of alcohol, the only things on him that might have a chance of helping him from his current predicament. If he did anything with them though, he would get some major burns and still might not be able to get out. The flames wouldn't be precise enough to not hurt him, and not hot enough to weld through the metal quick enough to get out safely.

"Just answer the question." Conan said.

KID didn't say anything for the next few minutes, but Conan knew that he was thinking about his question. "I'm looking for Pandora."

"Pandora?" Conan questioned, "Is that the name of a gem?"

"Yeah, some bad people are after it and I can't let them get it. Pandora's what I'm looking for, but you know, it's not the only reason I'm KID the Phantom Thief." Conan held onto the note of sadness in his voice. He stayed silent, letting him continue. "I'm also Kaitou KID because I want to avenge my father." Conan had suspected something along those lines. "But neither of those are the main reason that I'm KID. I'm KID because…it's fun. It's fun to plan a heist, it's fun to wow an audience, it's fun to run into challenges-like you." He added offhandedly. "When I had started, all I wanted to do was find out what happened to my father, but it's different now."

Conan took it in, listening to every word. "I think you might be the only person in existence who thinks it's fun to rush straight into the places where you're in the most danger."

KID shrugged, "Well, this talk would be a lot more fun if I didn't know where it was going to end."

"Heh. You act as if you won't switch places with the first cop who handcuffs you." Conan snorted.

"Ah, figured me out already?" KID shifted uncomfortably in the vent. "Is that why you haven't called the task force yet?"

"I just wanted to talk for a bit first." Conan got up, dusting off his pants, he looked at KID through the small gaps. "The only way we could really guarantee you staying caught is if we cut this part of the wall out and take you to a prison cell like that."

KID paled, "Oi, you're not really going to do that right?"

"No." Conan got out his wielding pen, a recent invention of the Professor's. "Back up a bit." He started to burn through the edges of the vent, and KID complied. Conan took the vent cover off, tossing it to the side.

"W-what are you…?" KID started, unable to fully comprehend the situation.

"Letting you go." Conan sighed, "Now hurry up before I change my mind." KID didn't waste another second, he landed silently on the ground outside of the vent, before turning to Conan.

He took his hat off and held it in front of him, bowing. "Thank you…" There was a heavy implied weight of gratitude behind the action.

"Don't thank me, idiot." Conan huffed, he had just helped a thief get away, what kind of detective was he?

KID laughed at him, wholehearted cheer, "No, really. Thank you, Tantei-kun." He bent down and ruffled Conan's hair, causing Conan to back away, embarrassed. KID smiled warmly, "I won't forget this. It means a lot."

Conan sighed as the magician took off. He watched his back as he ran forward, no magic tricks. Just him. He wondered if this was part of the magician's gratitude in and of itself. Leave it to him to help his escape from cases escape from him. As much as Conan would deny ever having helped the thief to anyone else, the thanks he had received felt really good. ''It means a lot', huh?' Conan repeated the words in his head. There was something about the way that KID had said it that made it feel as if he had done the right thing in letting him go. After today, Conan couldn't even try to pretend he wasn't a KID fan anymore.

Conan doesn't go to the next few heists. He can't because he knows that he wouldn't be able to resist helping KID instead of trying to catch him. He had never had to worry about something like that before. Detectives were always supposed to catch the bad guys. It was pretty rare he found himself rooting for one. Aside from Moriarty and Lupin, anyway.

No longer with a break from the cases and murder that surrounded his life, he was getting increasingly worn. Everything was exhausting. One day, the agency's phone rang. Conan had expected it to be another case, only this time it was different. The police were calling for the famous Sleeping Kogoro's help deciphering a particularly hard heist notice from one Kaitou KID. The police seemed to be confused because the notice seemed to imply that KID was targeting rubies from a large portion Japan. Conan listened in to the call, writing down the notice on a piece of paper.

The elderly noble the heat seeks,
takes rubies everywhere, East Tokyo.

What 'I' seek is that of wounded pride,
a samurai's shame, a midnight defeat.
On the 6th of April, I shall retrieve the gems.

-KID

Conan pushed his glasses up absentmindedly. The 6th was two days from now… 'East of Tokyo? On the East side of Tokyo, or in cities East of Tokyo? And why had he worded it like that? It would have made more sense to put 'in East Tokyo' or 'takes rubies of East Tokyo' or even 'takes rubies to the East of Tokyo.'' Conan put a hand to his chin. And why had he wrote them in two separate parts? It's not hot yet, it was still spring, so the word 'heat' in the first part also stood out. 'Heat' could refer to a gun, and the seeking part could refer to a bullet. But in the second part it said 'samurai's shame' which implied there being a sword. Heat seeking could also mean that the target couldn't be missed, or that the attack would have followed the target wherever it went until it hit.

He ignored the second part to focus on the first for now. The wording in the first really stood out for some reason. It just didn't click like KID's normal notices did. There was some kind of wordplay there. He tried a few letter tricks before landing on just taking the first letter of each word. "Tenth Street, huh?" Conan mumbled to himself. There were countless tenth streets East of Tokyo. So he decided to start with the East side of Tokyo, hoping for a hit. Since Beika was in the East side of Tokyo, he started there just since he was the most familiar with it. He scrolled through his phone for jeweled weapon displays on Tenth Street in Beika. He found one from a few months ago. An old dojo had displayed the gun and sword used by ancient war heroes. A war general and his advisor.

The sheaths both held large rubies in them and the same intricate patterns, having been made by the same weapon smith. The advisor followed the noble general everywhere, always having his back. When the advisor realized the only way to end the war was for the general to die, he shot him in the back. They had been fighting for years and years, their hairs long turned gray. After the general had passed, the advisor committed senppuku with the general's katana to atone for the sins of killing his best friend.

The meaning behind the heat seeking in the first part was referring to both the fact that a gun was used to kill him as well as the person who used it had always followed him around and that the death was unavoidable. The 'samurai's shame' part referred to the honorable suicide bushido warriors often used to atone for unforgivable actions. Conan couldn't believe how lucky it had been that he had found the location so quickly. 'Tenth Street, East Tokyo' was so vague…

"Huh?" Kogoro growled into the phone, making Conan look up at him curiously, "What do you mean the notice was written on a page from 'The Raven'? Are you sure this isn't a copycat?"

'The Raven…? The one written by Edgar Allen Poe…?' Conan blinked, the name that Edogawa Ranpo got his penname from. This…this notice was targeted at him…? Did KID know where his name came from? No, it was just a way to call out to Edogawa Conan, he was inviting him to the heist. He had no doubt that it was the real KID who had sent the notice. It made sense now that he had thought about it. Written on a page from 'The Raven', taking place in Beika, it was more than a little targeted. In fact, the only way to find the location with such small hints would be if you had an eye on Beika anyway. The only people who would were people living there. Conan sighed, 'I'm sorry, I can't come, KID.'

"Arere?" Conan said putting the paper he wrote the notice over on top of Kogoro's desk to point it out.

"Hmmm? What is it brat, I'm on a phone call." Kogoro griped.

"But isn't the wording strange at the start? See look here… if you take the first letter of each word like this…" Conan wrote the letters atop the words, "Then it becomes 'Tenth Street'."

Kogoro scowled at him, "That's just a coincidence, brat."

"Ne, don't we live in East Tokyo?" Conan added cutely, making Kogoro blink.

Kogoro grabbed the notice away from Conan's hands. "What are you…Ah! Inspector Nakamori, I believe the heist in going to be on Tenth Street in Beika! I haven't figured out exactly where yet, but he's clearly challenging me, the Great Detective Mouri Kogoro! AhahaHAHA!" He laughed moronically.

Conan sighed, Nakamori was probably skeptical on the other line. This would take just a little more pushing…

It was now April 6th and after Conan had guided the two idiots through every part of the notice, the task force finally knew where the heist would take place. Ran and Kogoro had both gone to the heist since Kogoro insisted that the notice had been targeted at him. Conan had declined in favor of staying home. He told Ran he was tired and wanted to go to bed early since the heist started at midnight, he used the late start as an excuse not to go.

He had been invited though, so he decided the least he could do was watch the live broadcasting. He jumped up on the couch and turned on the TV, getting comfortable.

As soon as midnight hit, there were giant smoke clouds appearing all over the dojo on screen. KID made a grand appearance, standing on top of the dojo, he walked above the audience. "Welcome ladies and gentlemen!" He said proudly in English. "I have a special show for you all tonight. I'm quite impressed that you managed to find me. And without further ado…Let the show begin!"

As the words left his mouth, he fell directly into the crowd, causing the audience to gasp and spread out frantically, unable to locate the thief. The flowers around the garden started to dance in the wind as sparkles flew up into the sky. KID reappeared at the front, handing many of the female audience members—as well as Inspector Nakamori—lit sparklers. The sparklers started burning and as they got to the end, rose petals flew out. Nakamori's had a "I Love KID!' flag pop out of his, making him throw it to the ground angrily.

Conan unconsciously moved closer to the screen, eyes widening as he searched for the keys to the tricks. His mouth was curving up in awe as the camera looked at a close up of one of the sparkler-flowers.

He found himself reaching towards the TV screen, "Wow…"

"It's cooler in person, you know." Conan froze in shock at the voice. He turned slowly, the magician in front of him's smile was bittersweet.

"KID…" Conan turned between him and the TV, not bothering to ask how he could be two places at once. He had a partner after all.

"Why didn't you come tonight? I would like to think that you know it was you I was inviting and not the Sleeping Detective." KID frowned at him. "Especially if you were going to watch from home anyway, why not just go?"

Conan blushes lightly, looking anywhere but at KID. "It's not that I didn't want to go...It's just that...I don't go to heists to catch you." KID hummed in acknowledgement, pushing him to continue, unsurprised. If Conan's goal was to catch him then he would have tried as soon as he realized the international thief was in his house. Or, even before that, he wouldn't have let him get away that time a few heists ago.

"I go for the same reason you do. They're fun. I honestly enjoy them, a bit too much. My life is always surrounded by cases, and your heists are a nice break from thinking about the crueler criminals that I see almost every day." Conan frowned. "As for the reason that I'm not going anymore… Well, you saw me last time. I caught you, you were stuck, and there wasn't an easy way out of that for you. But instead of making sure you couldn't get away, I…I let you go."

Conan gulped uncomfortably, baring his soul. "You always return the gems. You don't kill or let anyone get hurt. Hell, you'll risk yourself to help others. You're a criminal icon, but you never do anything bad. You do stupid tricks to cheer people up. Sometimes you do things so amazing that I almost forget there's a trick behind your magic." KID is listening intently, face red. He's getting one of the biggest compliments of his life. Conan continued, "A detective's job is to stop crime, put criminals behind bars, regardless of their intent. I…when I go to your heists, all I want to do is to help you. So…well, I stopped going."

KID hid his face under his hat, his monocle gleaming, stunned into silence. Conan lifted his arm to grab at his other, nervous about the blunt confession.

"I…" KID started, voice high, "I have to go, I'm sorry, I'll be back."

"Wait, KID!" Conan reached out to stop him helplessly. He was already out the window, no doubt heading back to the heist. Conan cursed silently to himself. It wasn't like him to be so honest. Well, KID had said he'd be back. All that he could do now was wait. He sat back at the couch, still slightly embarrassed at being caught looking so intently at the tricks on the screen. He grabbed a pillow, hugging it between his hands childishly.

Conan stared at the screen until he noticed KID appearing again about 20 minutes later, this time with the sheathes of the gun and sword in hand. He was incredibly fast. "I have someone waiting for me so I really must be going now, see you next illusion!" The audience whined, not wanting the show to end so fast. After KID had left, the news reporter switched over to doing an interview with Mouri Kogoro. She asked him how he felt to be challenged to such a special heist. Conan turned the power off.

He was still hugging the pillow when KID came back a little bit later. KID chuckled at him.

"W-what?" Conan asked.

"Sometimes I forget that you're in grade school. Then you do stuff like this." KID grinned.

Conan set the pillow to the side, "I don't see what that has to do with my age, really."

"Oh?" KID quirked a brow in amusement, dropping the subject at that in favor of taking out the sheath and holster. He held them up for Conan to see, "So what do you think?"

"What do I think? KID, you just brought stolen goods to my house. Other than that, not much." He sighed.

KID frowned, "I thought I'd show my biggest fan tonight's prize. Guess you don't really care much for an old sheath and holster. Even if they have rubies in them."

Conan scoffed at 'biggest fan', if he had to give that title to anyone that he knew personally, it would probably be Sonoko. "What prize? We both know that you're going to return them."

KID sat down, holding them up to the moonlight. "Yeah, turns out neither are Pandora. I still count them as prizes, though. For a day or two at least! Sometimes I hold onto them for weeks."

"Why are you telling me this?" Conan prompted. KID was being really open all of a sudden, not that he minded, he was just curious.

KID grinned broadly, "It's not like you want to catch me right? And I'm not telling you anything dangerous or risky for you to know. Besides, you shared with me first." While it was true, Conan didn't feel entirely comfortable having the thief casually hanging out in the living room when the Mouris were probably starting to head back from the heist. Then again, knowing Kogoro, he could very well be showing off for the TV still.

As if having read his mind, KID got up and patted his pants. "I guess I should be going right about now, I don't know when the other occupants of the house will arrive. And hey, you're a pretty cool kid, you know that?"

Conan smirked, unable to stop himself from retorting, "You're a pretty cool KID yourself, 1412."

KID grinned broadly, "You think? Oh, I almost forgot." KID flicked his hand, a sparkler appearing.

"For you." KID handed Conan the sparkler, lighting it, Conan took it in his hand. He watched as it burned down, going from tall to short as the sparkles popped off from it. He smiled looking closely at it, waiting for the petals to appear. Instead of mere rose petals, however, a whole hydrangea appeared in his hand.

"I don't recall ever being able to understand you." Conan twirled the cluster in his hand by the thin stem, thinking back to the meaning of the flower in his hand. Gratitude for being understood.

KID shrugged, "I feel like you do." They could hear people walking up the stairs and KID tucked out the window, turning back, "See you, Meitantei."

"S-" Conan began, stuttering, "See you." It was weird to say such a casual goodbye to him. It made him feel like he would see the other soon. He let go of the breath he didn't realize he was holding and hid the flower behind his back. He went to hurry to his and Ran's room, but it was too late. The front door opened up and Ran came inside.

"Ah! Conan-kun, what are you doing up?" Ran bent down to him, "I thought you were tired, it's not good to stay up when you're sleepy, you might get a cold."

"I was thirsty so I came down to get a cup of water. I'm fine now though, Ran-neechan." Conan smiled, "I think I'm going to go back to bed." He headed upstairs and quickly hid the flower under his bed, before going to sleep.

A week later, Conan heard a tap on his window. He went over to it, curious, and almost fell back when he saw KID smiling brightly from the other side. He opened it, letting him in.

"Ran and the old man are downstairs." Conan said.

"Yeah, thanks." KID patted him on his head, making him feel embarrassed.

Conan looked up at him, "If you already knew, then why are you thanking me?"

"Just because." KID sat down, humming a tune happily.

"Why are you here?" Conan sat down on his bed. Responding with the same casual air that the thief was talking to him with.

KID grinned, fishing something out of his pocket, "To show you this." He held out a large sapphire, it glistened majestically, "Pretty, isn't it?"

Conan got up and went over to his window, quickly shutting his blinds and turning back to the thief in question, "Idiot, why'd you bring that here?"

"Did you think I would be wearing KID clothes if I hadn't just returned from a heist…?" KID asked.

"Just answer the question." Conan frowned.

KID twirled the sapphire in the air in front of him. "Because you weren't at the heist." He had said it as if it had been the most obvious thing in the world.

Conan sighed, going back to sit on his bed again before looking down at the sapphire mystically hovering through the air. "You're right."

"Hm?" KID tilted his head.

"It is pretty." Conan stuck his hand out, thinking about touching it, before deciding not to.

"Isn't it?" KID grinned happily.

Conan retracted his hand. "How can you always be so happy? Don't you ever get tired?"

"Fairly often, like most humans I would assume." KID said. "You?"

"Get tired?" Conan snorted at him. "All the time." KID looked at him curiously, so Conan clarified. "Cases are exhausting. Pretending is exhausting. Hiding is exhausting. Filters are exhausting."

"I see." KID sighed, "That does sound tiring."

Shaking his head, Conan apologized, "Sorry, you come over and all I do is complain about things."

"You can complain to me any time." He pocketed the sapphire, "Really, I don't mind. See you, Meitantei."

Conan blinked, "Eh? You're leaving already?"

KID nodded, putting a finger to his mouth and pointing at the door. Footsteps were getting closer and Conan mouthed a silent 'See you.' as the thief left.

The next time he saw the thief, he was visiting his old library. Subaru had gone on a short vacation so he had the house to himself for a few days. He was tiptoeing to get a book that was just barely out of his reach, when a hand from behind had grabbed the book for him. Conan, being able to sense the thief's presence just before he had reached out, turned around to look at him. KID was smiling as he held the book out for him.

Conan took it, "Thanks…."

"No problem~" KID smiled, taking out a flute with a large emerald embedded on the side, "Cool right?"

Conan huffed, "Yeah, it's pretty cool. I hear that if you blow through those, they'll make noise."

He snickered at the blank look KID gave him at that and KID clarified, "I meant the emerald."

"Well, obviously." Conan's eyebrows rose and a grin was starting to make its way onto his face, enjoying getting a rise out of the thief.

KID saw that he was just teasing him and let out a sigh, "What are you doing here anyway? Isn't this that missing detective's house?"

Conan nodded, "It's Shinichi-niichan's, but he's letting someone else stay here for now. They both said I could come in here." He wondered if KID would be suspicious of him addressing Shinichi as 'niichan' when he always addresses others without an honorific around him. It felt too weird to call himself 'Shinichi' as a separate person though.

"Hmmmmm." KID looked through the books curiously. "That reminds me, I heard the two of you were related. It makes sense, you look similar and are both really good detectives. Must be from all these mystery novels you read."

"Yeah…" He stared, KID had just complimented him twice without realizing it. He felt kind of weird about that.

"What's he like?" KID sat in an armchair, inquiring.

Conan blinked, how did one describe themselves? "Well he's a famous detective. He's a big fan of Sherlock. He likes the color blue…"

KID rose an eyebrow at the generic response, making Conan nervous. "I mean, he's pretty interesting…?"

He felt that he didn't deserve the laugh that KID made after he said that. 'You try describing your own real identity, see if you can laugh then.' Conan sulked to himself. He decided he would get back at him a bit. "He had said that he went to one of your heists before."

"He told you about that, did he?" KID put a hand to his chin, "That was a pretty fun heist."

"Yeah." He answered the first question while silently agreeing to the second. "He told me that he didn't even know your name until at least a year later."

"W-what?!" KID's eyes widened, "There's no way, I mean—I was still famous, even back then! Everyone knows of the great Kaitou KID."

Conan felt a little bad now but still found the situation hilarious. He really hadn't known the name of the thief back then, he happened to be passing by and wondered what the crowd around the clock tower was for. It was completely coincidental that he had had the chance to try to stop him. It was also one of the first times he had felt any kind of respect for a criminal. "Well he didn't know your name, but he said you were stealing the clock-tower to protect it. Shinichi-niichan told me that it was his first time finding a thief who would do such selfless things like that."

"…" KID leaned back in the armchair he was in. "I hadn't realized anyone knew about that."

KID smiled at Conan, "You two really are related."

"H-huh?" Conan scratched the back of his head, nervously, "Why?"

"Because you're the sharpest detectives I've ever met." KID stated calmly. Conan's heart rate picked up, 'What the hell?' He had said that so casually too! He could feel his cheeks warming up.

"Speaking of…" KID began, a big grin forming on his face, "Do you want to plan a heist with me?"

"Hah..?" Conan couldn't believe his ears, "You're joking, right?"

KID frowned, "No, I'm serious." He got up from his chair, picking up the book Conan had set to the side earlier. It was one of the Night Baron books Shinichi's father had written. "C'mon, you and me, we'd be unstoppable."

"I thought you liked challenges." Conan said.

"Of course, obstacles are tools that make you better yourself." KID smiled, "But I think that working with you would be really fun too. The stage is half of a show, and haven't you ever wanted to see behind the curtains? It's completely optional of course, and you don't have to do anything you don't want to."

Conan sighed, KID seemed way too excited for this. He couldn't believe the ridiculousness of the situation. Still, it did sound fun. "What do I get out of this?"

"Hmmm…" KID frowned, considering, "I'll tell you my first name…?"

A grin spread out over Conan's face, "Deal."

There's so much that happened in this chapter. Before I started writing this, I was planning to write everything out with so much more detail and in a bunch of chapters. It will still be fairly long, it will just have a lot more KID and Conan/Shinichi interaction now. I'm glad I did it this way. Thanks for reading. See you, next heist.