Disclaimer: do you think i own this? how silly.

Pairing: Shinichi/Kid

I've Come to Call You Mine

"Kudou Shinichi."

A boy raised his hand and announced, "Here." But before he could lower his hand as his teacher marked his attendance, the classroom door slid open revealing a panting Kudou Shinichi, bent over in attempt to catch his breath.

"I'm sorry!" said Kudou Shinichi. "My alarm didn't go off today..." He trailed off as he noticed the silence and the dumfounded looks off his classmates and teacher.

The old teacher pointed his pen at the panting Kudou Shinichi. "If you're Kudou Shinichi, then who is he?" Now the teacher pointed at the boy, who looked exactly like Kudou Shinichi, who was seated in Kudou Shinichi's seat in Kudou Shinichi's classroom.

Kudou Shinichi did not look pleased. In fact, his eye was twitching. "Oi, what are you doing here, you dirty thief?"

"Experiencing a day of Kudou Shinichi," said the boy, grinning widely.

Kudou Shinichi narrowed his eyes and aimed his tranquilizer watch at his clone. "One...two..." he counted. Before he reached three, the boy stood up and jumped out the window. Shinichi lowered his watch and smirked. "Smart thief."

He took his seat calmly despite the many curious eyes trained on him.

"Kudou-kun," said his teacher. "What was that about? Do you have a twin?"

"Eh?" replied Shinichi as he unpacked his book bag. "Oh, no. That's Kaito Kid. You know, the phantom thief? Apparently, he thinks it's funny to disguise as me."

Before he even finished the sentence, more than half the class had rushed to the window where Kaito had propelled himself out of. They all searched the grounds, looking for any sign of the Shinichi lookalike.

Instead, they heard Shinichi deadpan behind them, "So, how long are you going to stay up there?"

Curious, everybody in the classroom looked up at the ceiling and gasped in surprise when they saw the Shinichi lookalike (a.k.a. Kid) splayed out on all fours as though his back was stuck to the ceiling.

"Aw, I was hoping you wouldn't have noticed," said Kaito, a hint of a whine in his voice.

However, Shinichi was impervious to any of Kaito's childish antics. He looked at him with a bored expression, almost like an unimpressed lover. "Get out so we can start class."

Kaito sighed and landed on the ground gracefully. "Okay, okay. Let's walk home together after school, okay?" With that, he disappeared in a puff of smoke much to the amazement of the rest of the class who clapped enthusiastically.

Shinichi merely sneered. That boy liked to show off nearly as much as he did and Shinichi didn't appreciate the competition. He took out his textbook and turned to the allocated page. "We don't even go to the same school, idiot."

--

It had begun way before Shinichi had turned back into his original form. Even when he was Edogawa Conan, the playful thief would drop in on him unexpectedly in Tei Tan Elementary School. It always caused an uproar and delighted the little students. But to Shinichi, it was just troublesome.

When he returned as Kudou Shinichi, his fame had returned as well. Only now it was doubled because he refused to speak of what he had done during his absence combined with his sudden 'close' relationship with the international thief, Kaito Kid.

It definitely didn't help when Kid publicly announced Shinichi as his rival, encouraging a whole mob of detectives to hound his doorstep demanding what he had done to gain the thief's attention.

"Shinichi? What are you doing? School is over!"

While musing his circumstances, Shinichi didn't even hear the school chime go off. Ran was waiting to walk home together with him. He grabbed his book bag and joined her at the door. In retrospect, he should've known that the thief wouldn't leave him alone.

Kid was waiting for him at his school gates. This time, he was disguised as a salaryman with nondescript features. He looked completely different but Shinichi could easily tell it was him from the cheeky grin.

Shinichi held up his tranquilizer watch in reflex and Kid edged away in counter reflex. "How long are you going to hound me before you stop?" asked Shinichi in a no nonsense voice.

"I'm hurt, Shinichi-kun," replied Kid in a different voice, befitting the salaryman he was disguised as. "And you promised me a good time tonight too."

The students who just happened to be standing nearby all froze and turned to stare rigidly at Shinichi. Had they just heard right? Was Kudou Shinichi-kun one of those boys who offered sex to horny working men for money? They've heard of high school girls doing stuff like this but definitely not boys. Maybe it was because Kudou-kun was good-looking.

Shinichi's face was flushed red with anger and embarrassment. "You know what?" he growled through gritted teeth. "You should just fly away and become a star in the sky!" He aimed a heavy kick at Kid's abdomen, which sent him flying. Sadly, he did not fly far away enough to become a star in the sky.

Kid somersaulted backwards to slow the momentum from the force of the kick, but when he stood up straight, fine as ever, Shinichi stomped away angrily. He couldn't deal with the annoying sod. He really couldn't.

As Ran ran after her angry childhood friend, Kid put his hands on his hips victoriously.

--

"Kuroba Kaito."

"Here!"

"Here!"

Kaito's head shot up from the table where he had been dozing lightly in search of the other voice. He found its owner sitting directly behind him in the form of Kudou Shinichi. He was wearing a smug expression that said, 'If you can do it, so can I."

The teacher in front of the classroom lowered her reading glasses in slight amusement. "Oh, have you finally perfected another magic trick, Kuroba-san?" The rest of the class murmured in appreciation of the Kuroba Kaito lookalike.

Shinichi grinned triumphantly and propped his feet on his desk. How do you like it when it's done to you, Kid?

Much to Shinichi's dismay, Kaito didn't look even mildly taken back at Shinichi's little display. Instead, a dramatic look of realisation crossed his features as he stood up with a slap to his forehead. "What am I doing?" he demanded aloud. "I'm in the wrong school!"

The teacher gasped at the sudden outcry. "Kuroba-san, what are you talking about?"

Kaito bowed to his teacher. "I'm terribly sorry, sensei. But I'm not Kuroba Kaito. My name's Kudou Shinichi. I don't know what got into me today. I should be at Tei Tan. Not here. Excuse me, I'm late for my own class." He grabbed his book bag and sprinted out of the class, leaving a very gobsmacked Kudou Shinichi in his wake.

--

Shinichi's eye was twitching again. It happened often as of late and most of the time, the reasons were the same. Kaito Kid. This would yet be another incident which he would store away in the folders of his memory so that he can retrieve it in future when he finally got revenge on Kaito. Though, with every passing day, revenge seemed to be less and less likely.

Kaito Kid seemed to have no weakness he could exploit. He, Kudo Shinichi, however, had as many chinks as a rusty armour.

Fingerprints.

There were fingerprints on his lovely white MacBook. And those fingerprints weren't his at all. He knew better than to approach his white laptop with dirty fingers. The owner of these fingerprints had probably just come home from art class with gouache paint all over him and just decided to google something before he washed his hands.

Shinichi's deductions were hardly ever wrong. He entered his living room and found the bane of his existence eating cake with gouache-stained hands while watching a variety show. It took all of Shinichi's tolerance to not just flip the sofa and let the other boy land flat on his face with cake digging up his nostrils.

He approached the other boy as calmly as he could. But two steps before he reached Kaito, the other boy tensed. "I sense a killing aura," he announced with his eyes still fixed on the television set. "Shinichi-kun, are you home? I didn't hear the gate open."

He held up the half-eaten slice of cake. Shinichi winced as parts crumbled off and fell between the cushions of his sofa. He was going to make Kaito clean that up later. "I hope you don't mind," said Kaito cavalierly. "There was nothing in your fridge so I helped myself to a slice of your birthday cake."

"Birthday cake?" said Shinichi, raising his eyebrow. He didn't have a birthday cake in his fridge.

"We're going to have to celebrate tonight with an incomplete cake," continued Kaito. "Unconventional but it still works, right, as long as you have cake."

His birthday was tomorrow. What was Kaito talking about?

"I already set up my sleeping bag in your bedroom." Finally after rambling for several minutes, Kaito turned to look at Shinichi with an excited gleam in his eyes. "I've never had a birthday slumber party before. This is going to be so fun!"

Shinichi blinked once. Twice. Then he turned around robotically and walked stiffly to his room. Kaito was a whole new species of being that he couldn't comprehend even if he wanted to. He would just get exhausted in the process. He didn't register Kaito giving him a cheery wave goodbye as he climbed the stairs to his bedroom.

He stepped over Kaito's sleeping bag, laid next to his desk, and collapsed onto his bed. Their relationship hadn't started out like this. There was a time when all they had between them was a normal rivalry between detective and thief. Kaito would keep on stealing and he would keep on trying to thwart him.

Shinichi had even held a level of respect for the other young man. Then somewhere along the way, Kaito had decided that he wanted to go 'squee' on Shinichi, not that Shinichi had a choice in the matter.

Hang on, there were plenty of guests rooms, including his parents' unused bedroom in his house. Why had Kaito set up camp in his bedroom?

Down at the living room, Kaito had just finished his last bite of the cake when a sleeping bag fell on top of him.

--

By the time Valentines' day rolled around, rumours surrounding Shinchi and Kid were rampant. Fueled by gossip at Tei Tan High School, many were led to believe that the detective and thief were involved in an intimate relationship. Heck, they even had photos of Kaito entering Shinichi's house.

Shinichi knew very well that Kaito had allowed those photos of him to be taken. He was Kid the Phantom Thief, after all. If it hadn't been his intention, no one could take a photo of him.

At the same time, though, Shinichi had learned to mellow down. Getting angry at Kaito every single time raised his blood pressure and he sure didn't want to kick the can before his time because of the lousy thief. Still, no matter how much he tolerated Kaito's antics, this was a bit much.

Shinichi glared passively at the mountain of chocolates on his desk and perched on the peak of the mountain was a flag with a Kaito Kid doodle on it. Sonoko stormed up to him angrily while Ran watched on, feigning disinterest.

"Shinichi, I've tolerated you and Kid-sama flirting all year round because I know he was just playing but are you in love with him?" she demanded in a loud voice that needed no speakerphones.

The whole class snapped to attention immediately. Any day filled with Shinichi and Kaito Kid gossip promised to be an entertaining one indeed.

Shinichi eyed the rich girl wearily. "Oh yes, Kid and I are devastatingly in love with one another. You know what? He stays over at my place every other night so that we can make out and have torrid sex well into the morning. Are you happy now?" He slumped into his seat and shoved the chocolate heap onto the floor without remorse.

Any other person could sense the deep sarcasm injected into his every word but not Sonoko. She went hysterical. After screaming with disbelief for a good minute, she passed out from shock. Ran didn't know whether to be mad at Shinichi or sympathise with him.

It was plain that Shinichi didn't enjoy this sort of attention and she wondered exactly what Kaito's motive was.

--

The both of them were watching reruns of old Kindaichi episodes in Shinichi's living room. Kaito was watching enthusiastically while munching on popcorn while Shinichi was reading the news online with his laptop. While surfing through the links, Shinichi stumbled into a newspaper article of Kaito's most recent heist in Nagoya. That would explain why the thief missed several days of school last week.

Speaking of which...

"Oi," said Shinichi, by way of getting the other boy's attention. "When is your birthday?"

"Hmm?" replied Kaito absentmindedly. He swallowed his popcorn and said, "Today."

Shinichi stared at him incredulously. Today was April Fools. "Really?"

"Yup," retorted Kaito with a minute nod of his head without taking his eyes off the television. Shinichi completely understood. This was the part where Kindaichi revealed that the body was hidden in the wall.

Still, he waited for Kaito to jump up and say, "April Fools!" Because that's what people do on the first of April, right? Kaito, even more so, given his love for pranks. But the exclamation never came. Shinichi waited for it till the anime episode ended and the ending song played. Still, Kaito didn't jump up and say "April Fools".

Feeling slightly lost, Shinichi muttered, "Happy birthday."

Kaito flashed him a wide grin. "Thanks." He looked at his wristwatch and declared it to be super late so he had to leave now. "Bye, Shin-kun. See you at school tomorrow!"

Shinichi wondered at which point did Kaito start attending his school instead of Edoka High.

--

Three days after Kaito's birthday, he disappeared. He stopped coming to school, there was no news about new heists, he didn't pick up his phone - nothing. At first, Shinichi deduced that the thief had probably gone to another country to prepare for a heist.

But after two weeks passed without incident, he started to truly get worried. Shinichi tried searching Kaito's usual haunts like Edoka High School, Aoko's house, Kaito's house and his own house to no avail. Kaito was nowhere to be found.

Two weeks dragged into three weeks and three weeks into a month. It came to a point where the students at Tei Tan forgot about the prankster thief. Normalcy was restored to Shinichi's class. The teacher didn't mistake Kaito for Shinichi anymore or vice versa because there wasn't a Shinichi clone taking the class with them anymore.

Rumours about Shinichi and Kaito dwindled and died. His relationship with Ran flourished once again but still, Shinichi wasn't happy. He was worried and a little anxious. Had Kaito grown bored of him? Did the thief have a new favourite detective to play with now?

Six weeks after Kaito's disappearance, Shinichi visited Kaito's house again. Within the period of Kaito's absence, Shinichi had checked the Kuroba residence so many times that his presence was readily welcomed. The family servant, Konosuke Jii, prepared some tea for him as Shinichi checked every room in the house methodically for Kaito's presence.

"Kaito-bocchama has not yet returned," Konosuke concluded when Shinichi finished his search with a sigh and downed his tea disappointedly. Every time Shinichi paid this house a visit, Konosuke would say the same thing. Kaito-bocchama has not yet returned. It irked Shinichi somewhat to be so short of clues to Kaito's whereabouts.

He thanked Konosuke for the tea and reminded the old servant to call him the minute Kaito returned from wherever he had gone.

"How long has it been now since Kaito-bocchama left?" asked Konosuke before Shinichi left.

"Six weeks."

The old man "hmm"ed to himself. "Six weeks...Kaito-bocchama has not gone flying for that long before."

The sentence snapped Shinichi to his senses immediately. He rounded in on Konosuke, nearly breathing fire. "You know where he is?" he demanded.

"I do not," said Konosuke complacently, shaking his head. "But I do know that he has gone flying."

"Flying? As in he took his hang-glider out and flew?" Even as he suggested that, hints of incredulity snuck into Shinichi's voice. So imagine his surprise when Konosuke nodded.

"Every year, Kaito-bocchama takes a trip by himself on his hang-glider. He goes to the nearest cliffs and goes flying as long as he wants. He takes money with him so he can not return for a long time if he wishes so. But he never tells me where he goes to fly. He never leaves any hints or tells how long he'll be away. He just packs his clothes, some money and sometimes his passport."

"Did he take his passport this time?" asked Shinichi. This could be the clue he had been waiting for!

Konosuke shook his head. "I remember it distinctively. He did not take his passport. And he also told me not to tell you...oops." The old man covered his man upon realising his mishap.

Shinichi's eyes widened in surprise. Why would Kaito want to hide something like that from him? It wasn't anything incriminating or something to be embarrassed about. There must be more to this that Konosuke was telling him. But it would be impossible to get any more information out of the old man now.

The high school detective stormed out of the Kuroba residence purposefully. He was going to get to the bottom of this.

--

The view of Tokyo at night was breathtaking. It was best seen from the ferris wheel when you reached the apex of the turn. But Kaito had an even better spot: the top of the Tokyo Tower. Up there, the winds blew harder, which was why he had forgone his cape.

He remained stationary at the peak of the broadcasting tower, just observing the life below. Just then, his peace was disrupted by the ringing of his mobile phone. Kaito slid it out his pocket and saw Shinichi's name flash across the screen. Without even rejecting the call, Kaito slid his phone back into his pocket, allowing the device to vibrate gently against his thigh.

"You're going to let that ring until I give up?"

The sound of another voice surprised Kaito so much that he nearly fell off the tallest structure in Japan. He righted himself quickly and turned around to catch a look of the perpetrator. He should've expected Shinichi's frowning face.

"How did you get up here?" was Kaito's first question.

"I climbed," replied the other boy simply.

"You climbed up the Tokyo Tower just to catch me unawares?" asked the thief with a raise of his eyebrow.

"Would I have been able to reach you otherwise?" There was a note of challenge in Shinichi's voice. "You won't answer my calls, you won't contact me. It's almost as if you're throwing me away. What are you doing here? Why have you been missing school? And why did you tell Konosuke-san not to tell me about this?"

Kaito looked away from him and concentrated his gaze to the nightlife below them. He looked morose, which was very uncharacteristic of him. It scared Shinichi, made goosebumps rise on his skin, though he could attribute that to the cold wind.

"I am thinking about our relationship," Kaito said finally.

Shinichi looked at him confusedly. "What?"

"I am wondering if I had made a mistake barging into your life and carving a niche for myself in it."

"What? Why? What brought this on? You never cared before," said Shinichi.

"Because I love you."

Shinichi almost thought he heard wrongly because at the exact same time, the wind blew harder carrying Kaito's words away. But there was no mistaking what Shinichi had read on Kaito's lips. The way the other boy was looking at him and edging away from him despite not having much space to move around.

"I never expected my feelings to turn out like this," Kaito continued. "I always thought I only had admiration for your character. Turns out I underestimated my feelings. Because of that, I don't think I can stay around you any longer."

"What?" exclaimed Shinichi. Kaito spoke too fast and it was took a long time for the true meaning of Kaito's words to sink in. By the time they did, Kaito was standing up from his perch on the tower. He wobbled dangerously. Shinichi wanted to reach a hand out and grab the thief before he fell.

But the phantom thief needed no such assistance. "It was fun, Tantei-kun. I'll see you again in the next heist." He pressed a button at his hip and his hang-glider flipped open.

Before Shinichi could even get a word in, Kaito had jumped and allowed the wind to carry him away. There was no way Shinichi could catch him now. He sat for several moments, watching Kaito's figure buffet with the wind and then disappear behind a high-rise building.

He had called him Tantei-kun.

--

When Shinichi arrived home, there was a message in his answering machine. It was Konosuke informing him that Kaito-bocchama had returned. The next time Shinichi called, Kaito picked up. He felt relieved and dread at the same time. Once again, Kaito had managed to complicate matters and make their relationship even more confusing than before.

"Are you coming to school tomorrow?" Shinichi asked.

"Yeah. Starting tomorrow, I'm returning to Edoka High," replied Kaito in a subdued voice that scared Shinichi.

He was disappointed, though. If Kaito still went to Tei Tan, Shinichi would be able to see him every day and perhaps even patch up the gulf that seemed to have formed between them. But it was apparent that Kaito wanted to stay as far as possible from him at the moment - maybe forever.

That thought horrified Shinichi. He had grown so fond of the thief's cheerful companionship that his life felt less colourful without it. Those six weeks had been bearable only because he thought Kaito was definitely returning to him.

When Shinichi didn't say anything for a long time, Kaito spoke up. "Say something."

"When will I see you again?" Shinichi blurted out.

"Why do you care?" Kaito retorted easily. "Unless you..."

Shinichi knew what Kaito was hoping. He also knew that he couldn't...shouldn't lie. He held his breath, not remembering feeling this tense for the longest time. "I'm sorry. I don't feel the same way about you."

He heard Kaito make an indistinct sound on the other side. "It's okay. I didn't expect you to," said the other boy.

Liar, thought Shinichi. The silence that followed continued for a long time until Kaito decided to break it again. "If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up."

No. Don't!

"Don't leave Tei Tan!" cried Shinichi. "I-"

"You selfish bastard!" cut in Kaito coldly.

"I miss you!" But by that time, Kaito had hung up and Shinichi had been left confessing to a disconnected phone. He stared at the phone for a long time before returning it to its cradle.

He didn't attend school the next day or the next. He flew to Osaka to visit Hattori and solve some cases. And forget about his troubles along the way.

--

"Hurry, Kaito! We're going to be late! What are you going to do if we miss roll call on the first day?" asked Aoko anxiously as she weaved though the crowd, dragging Kaito close behind her.

The boy remained apathetic. "They don't take roll call in university lectures. Calm down. The only thing we need to worry about is not being able to find our classroom and that shouldn't be a problem."

"Why?" his childhood friend shot back.

Because I skipped orientation yesterday to scout the grounds, replied Kaito silently. He thought back on his roughly drawn blueprints sitting in his room. He would have to bring them next time and refine them some more if he were to devise secret escape routes from the university compound.

The both of them ran towards their classroom, with Kaito leading the way, and tried to sneak in quietly. The lecture had already begun for five minutes so naturally, their presence was known immediately. The lecturer even paused in his speech to allow them time to find seats.

"Your names, please?" asked the fifty-year old bespectacled lecturer.

"Nakamori Aoko."

"Late on your first day at university. I hope you learn something from this, Nakamori-san," said the lecturer sharply. Aoko's cheeks tinged with pink at that. The lecturer then turned to Kaito. "And you, young man?"

Kaito grinned, thinking of all the pranks he could play on the old lecturer as a sort of introductory gift into his university life. "I'm Kuroba Kaito. Nice to meet you, sensei."

But before Kaito could pull any tricks out of his arsenal, the lecturer gave a start. "Kuroba? But you're already here." He gestured his clipboard somewhere to the right side of the class.

Kaito followed his gaze and sure enough, in the seat closest to the windows was a young man who looked exactly like him. Kudou Shinichi.

Kaito tried his best to suppress a flinch. When was the last time he had seen the detective? It was months; close to a year, maybe. The thief put on his best poker face and smiled at his lecturer. "That one there isn't Kuroba Kaito. It's Kudou Shinichi."

The classroom of people became awake all of a sudden. "Kudou Shinichi? That famous high school detective?" exclaimed a girl sitting in the middle of the classroom. She looked like the normal bimbo.

"He's obviously not in high school anymore, miss," said Kaito politely, "since he's joining us today. Does that mean you've entered this university as well, Tantei-kun?"

It was a battle of poker smiles. Shinichi pasted on an unfathomable smile of his own and nodded. "I'd always done okay academically so it's not so surprising for me to be here, is it? Oh, Ran is here too."

"Well, it's nice to see you here, Tantei-kun," replied Kaito, his smile not budging even a millimeter. "I haven't been seeing you around much." Not even at my heists, he silently added.

"I have been busy," admitted Shinichi. "But I think you better take a seat soon. Our sensei looks like he's going to blow a fuse."

Shinichi was right. Their lecturer had turned into a hue of red that was unhealthy on a 50-year old man. But Kaito refused to let his unwelcome reunion with Shinichi to end just like that. He stormed up to Shinichi and made him move over so that he would have a place to sit.

"What are you doing here?" he snarled softly so that the lecture could continue without him interrupting it.

Given how close they were sitting, Kaito expected Shinichi to inch away a little to make some space between them. Instead, the other boy simply reached up and brushed Kaito's hair out of his eyes. "What's with those heavy eye bags? Are you spending too much time devising your heists?" Shinichi asked in a low voice.

Kaito exploded in red and nearly fell off the bench in surprise. He bit his lip hard and looked like he was about to say something indignant when Shinichi pressed a finger to his lips and looked at the lecturer. "You have to pay attention. University classes won't be as easy as high school."

MISHIMA YUKIO was scrawled in large letters on the blackboard behind the lecturer. So this was a Japanese Literature class. Kaito hadn't even noticed what lecture he was attending.

He took out his notebook, intending to pour all his attention into the lecture. The nuisance beside him could be dealt after class. Still, even as he jotted down notes in neat handwriting into his book, he wondered if Kudou Shinichi could be 'dealt' with at all.

It had been almost a year and still he felt flustered around the other boy. His heart was beating faster than it should, his palms were beginning to sweat and he was feeling very self-conscious about his hair and his clothes today. He groaned inwardly. Haven't those feelings diminished at all? Since he was able to stop thinking about Shinichi half a year ago, he thought he was in the safe zone already.

He gasped sharply when he felt an arm brushing his lower back. He turned his head, wondering what Shinichi was doing but the other boy had already looped his arm around his and was now resting his hand on Kaito's hip, pressing the side of Kaito's body against his.

Kaito grew hot at an alarming rate. He slammed his pen on the table and stood up, affronted. "Kudou, you-"

"Kuroba-san, is there something wrong?" asked the lecturer testily.

"It's Kudou! He-"

"This is the second time you've disrupted this class. A third time and I will be forced to send you out of the room," warned the lecturer.

Noting the serious look on the old man's face, Kaito sat back down, defeated. He refused to look at Shinichi's triumphant grin. Shinichi resumed their former position with his arm around Kaito. Kaito remained stiff the entire time, refusing to relax against the other boy or enjoy the feeling of Shinichi's hand on his hip.

He continued taking notes resolutely...

...until Shinichi took it a step further and pressed his lips against Kaito's neck briefly.

Kaito stood up, breaking free of Shinichi's one-handed embrace. He snapped loudly, "SHIN-KUN!"

"Kuroba-san!" said the lecturer loudly. He pointed his finger towards the door of the classroom.

Kaito saw red. "MISHIMA WAS A SUICIDAL PONCE ANYWAY!" he screamed in frustration before grabbing his things and fleeing out the door, leaving a class full of dumfounded people in his wake. In several seconds, some of those dumfounded people snickered while the others merely shook their heads, disapprovingly.

One person, however, smiled and propped up his chin with his hand. "How cute."

--

Kaito crumpled up the wrapper of his cutlet sandwich into a ball violently before tossing it into a trash can. He then tore into his food savagely, barely pausing to chew before swallowing the morsel. Aoko looked at him, half afraid and half worried.

"If Shin-kun's in the next class, I'm not going!" he declared.

Aoko blinked at him, surprised. "This is the first time I've seen you give in so quickly, Kaito."

"I'm not giving in," snarled Kaito angrily.

"Yes you are," Aoko pointed out as a matter-of-factly. "You're backing away from your enemy which means giving in."

Kaito conceded that point to her. He was giving in. But that was only because his opponent was Shinichi. He didn't know what to do or how to act around that boy. His emotions became a jumble whenever he was with him. "Why did he have to come to this college?" he moaned piteously.

And what had all that touching been about? They had never been touchy-feely with one another, not even at the peak of their friendship, if you could call what they had friendship. He...he k-k-kissed my neck! Kaito fought hard to keep down a blush.

Great, now he was acting like a girl. Feeling exhausted all of a sudden, he finished his sandwich and grabbed his bag. "Aoko, I'm going home," he said. "I don't feel so well." He waved goodbye before the girl could persuade him otherwise and walked out of the university compound. He didn't get very far though because Ran was waiting for him outside.

--

"You turned down your childhood friend. Why did you do that?"

Shinichi had always locked his study whenever he was using it. Since his front door was open to whoever who wished to visit him, many people always came knocking, whether it was friends, fans or grateful victims from the crimes he's solved.

But when he was in his study, it meant that he had serious work to do and didn't want to be disturbed. Only two people had keys to his study. One was Ran and whenever she opened the door, there would be the soft jingle of keys. The other was Professor Agasa and he never used the keys. He usually just blasted his way in when testing one of his devices.

The person who trespassed into his study now did not blast his way in or jingle the keys before opening the door. Shinichi deduced that this was a master at lock-picking and a person who was used to getting into places he wasn't supposed to.

He spun his swivel chair so that he could greet his guest face-to-face. "It's been ages since you were in here. I remember the last time, it was your birthday a year ago."

Kaito was unamused. "Answer the question."

"Ran said something to you, huh?"

"You were in love with her for the longest time, weren't you? When I first met you - when you were still Edogawa Conan - you were already in love with her. So why did you turn her down?"

Shinichi's eyes softened as he began. "Kaito..."

"You always referred to me as Kid. Since when did you start calling me Kaito?" snapped the thief.

"Ever since you started calling me Shin-kun again."

Kaito's eyes widened. When had he started that again? He hadn't even realised! He crossed his arms and leaned against the bookshelf in a seemingly lackadaisical manner but Shinichi wasn't fooled. Kaito's body was as stiff as iron.

"Why did you do that to me today?" asked Kaito. "And don't you dare lie to me."

Shinichi sighed and steeped his fingers on his lap. If Kaito didn't know any better, he would think that Shinichi was getting ready to reveal a deduction. "When you left, I thought it would be easier to just forget about you. But the longer I didn't see you, the more I thought about you. The more I thought about you, the more I missed you. The more I missed you, the more I wanted to touch you."

The detective stood up from his seat and walked to where Kaito was. Before Kaito's instincts reacted, telling him to flee, Shinichi caught him by the sleeve of his shirt and slammed him against the bookshelf, forcing several books out of place. Kaito was about to protest verbally when Shinichi hugged him, arms around his hips and forehead against his shoulder.

"Before I knew it, I couldn't stop thinking about you," the detective said softly.

Kaito inhaled sharply. He wasn't prepared for this. He spent all this time hardening his heart against Shinichi. To have it torn away so easily like paper...he wasn't having it! He pushed Shinichi away with all his might but Shinichi caught his hand and held it tight.

"Sleep with me tonight."

Red. Shinichi kept making him red today; whether it was red with embarrassment, red with anger, red with frustration and the like. How dare Shinichi make demands like this after he turned him down so many months ago! He wasn't going to let all the emotional turmoil he had undergone go to waste! There was no way he was giving in to Shinichi that easily.

"I really missed you," confessed the detective.

Kaito bit his lip hard. Why did Shinichi have to do this? He felt his resolve slipping away bit by bit until he was left vulnerable against the bookshelf. He slid to the floor, knees too weak to hold him up anymore. Shinichi followed him to the floor, hiding the boy in a huge embrace.

As the thief was pressed up against the detective's body, he felt tears from a long time ago creep up to his eyes. "I hate you," he said weakly.

"I'm sorry. But I'm selfish." Shinichi tightened his embrace. "The moment I decided I wanted you, you were mine."

Kaito chuckled despite himself. "That's very thief-like of you."

"It's all your fault," retorted Shinichi. "You made me this way. Now, if you don't mind, I have a report to finish." He stood up, leaving Kaito cold, and returned to his laptop.

Kaito blinked, dumfounded. "Hey!" he exclaimed. "What-"

"Since you were sent out of class today, you probably didn't know that we have to write a report about Mishima's Spring Snow. Since we're supposed to have read the book before the term started, we have to hand the report in by tomorrow."

"Why didn't you mention that before?" cried Kaito. "Do you have a spare computer in your house or something?"

"There's one in my room," said Shinichi. "But why do you want to do it here? Unless you want to copy some of my notes," added the detective suspiciously.

"I have my own notes, thank you very much!" replied Kaito, affronted. "It's just that I thought that you wanted to sleep with me tonight."

At this, Shinichi's face went pale. "All I really meant was for us to share a same bed...you know, like you used to when you slept over here. Don't tell me you were thinking..."

Kaito raised his eyebrows comically. "Oh, you weren't thinking about that?" He sidled up to Shinichi and caressed the other boys chin softly. "It's just that with all you've been doing to me lately, I thought you would've thought of something along those lines."

This time, it was Shinichi's turn to blush crimson. "I - I - I never...that far..."

"I was just joking, Shin-kun," Kaito whispered against the shell of Shinichi's ear. He burst with laughter when Shinichi grabbed his ear, looking insulted. It surprised Kaito how easily the status quo was restored. It was now him teasing Shinichi again, and not the other way around.

Although he still felt a little uncomfortable being around the other boy, he didn't doubt his skills of adaptability. He would be seeing a lot of Shinichi now that they were attending the same university after all.

But enough was enough. He had to finish a book report by tonight. He allowed Shinichi to hold his hand for a while as he said goodbye and goodnight. But before he was fully out the door, he heard Shinichi mutter just loud enough for him to hear. "But I'm seme."

--

OWARI

Author's Notes: Wow, this is my first Shinichi/Kid story ever. It was fun writing the pranking scenes. Then again, I realise that the mood of this story is always fluctuating. First funny, then sad, then emo sad and then a little happy at the end again. I think I should've added more resolutions at the ending but since it's already clear that Shinichi had some feelings for Kid as well, I decided to leave it at that. It's still possible that he would get together with Ran but it doesn't mean that Kid is just a friend to him.

In any case, I hope you enjoyed the story. In a way, it's not so different from my Kid/Conan stories.

edit: I realised I made the first part of the story too confusing. Even I got dizzy reading it for a second time so I don't know how the rest of you could stomach it. In light of this, I made a few changes to the first few paragraphs. Thanks for taking your time to read this.