Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

Pairing: KaitoxShinichi

Rating: T, may go up

Genre: Romance/Humor

Warnings: None for this chapter

Summary: Having noticed KID's interest in one Kudo Shinichi, a frustrated Nakamori believes he's found the perfect way to lure the thief into a trap. Shinichi wishes someone had asked him for his opinion, but maybe this will help him sort out his own feelings. As for KID, well, he'd like to thank his task force for being so thoughtful and saving him a lot of work. It's the unconventional beginning to an unconventional relationship.

Lure

Chapter 1 - Enlightenment

To tell the truth, Nakamori hadn't been the first to notice—not, he would like to point out, that this was from any oversight on his part. It was just that this was KID they were talking about. KID was always doing weird things. So what if he'd been giving the Kudo boy roses? It made the kid blush and stammer, thus providing the thief with an easy escape. It was just the kind of thing KID would do. The thief was nothing if not good at using people's own personalities to his advantage: manipulating them into doing what he wanted and keeping them off balance so he could watch them squirm for his entertainment.

Then there had been the costumes. But of course those weren't new either. KID was always sticking his task force into costumes, the more humiliating the better. Nakamori himself would never forget those wretched monkey suits. But when it came to Kudo Shinichi's costumes, the old inspector had started to notice a certain trend. They tended to be… He didn't know what word to finish that sentence with until the Hakuba brat suggested 'provocative'. Nakamori kind of wished he hadn't, but he could see exactly what the blond meant. For whatever reason, the costumes KID prepared for Kudo often involved furry animal ears and tails, figure-hugging garments, short skirts, or otherwise revealing pieces of clothing—sometimes all at once. There had even once been a leathery ensemble that had lead Nakamori to ordering his officers to find the boy spare clothes because they couldn't possibly let him go home looking like that. Something bad could happen to him. And KID had to be putting a lot of thought into just how to make those outfits fit Kudo because the boy never looked ridiculous or plain disturbing like that time at the ballet hall heist when the thief had left half the task force in Swan Lake tutus (Nakamori had banned all his officers from ever mentioning that terrible fiasco ever again on pain of demotion). No one wanted to know how the thief had gotten Kudo's measurements (least of all Shinichi himself).

Then had come the heist at the Yukimitsu Estate. Those endless stretches of lush, green vegetation and beautiful flowerbeds crowned by the masterpiece of a mansion had been being run by the owners as both a luxury vacation resort complete with art gallery, pool, and games room and a wedding facility. That was the day the light bulb went on for everyone in the KID Task Force—and possibly for many members of the general public as well. The photograph of a shocked and blushing Kudo Shinichi in a full blown wedding dress with his hands clasped firmly in KID's own gloved ones as the grinning thief leaned in to give him a peck on the cheek had made it onto the front page of multiple papers. It then proceeded to circulate the internet like wildfire. Some people thought it was a joke. Some people said it was romantic. Some people were outraged (a.k.a. Suzuki Sonoko. Shinichi was still ducking for cover every time he saw her). Others couldn't stop laughing (to Shinichi's annoyance, Hattori Heiji was one of these, the unhelpful jerk).

The white wedding dress had gone perfectly with KID's white suit.

And suddenly all the pieces came together and Nakamori Ginzo could only gape and wonder why he hadn't realized it sooner.

He started noticing all the other little signs. There was the way KID always seemed more energetic (god forbid) when Kudo was at a heist. He tended to seek the boy out too—picked him out when he spoke and occasionally asked about him if he wasn't there. Also, even for heists that Kudo didn't attend, he was still somehow always involved these days in KID's jewel returns. More often than not, the jewel would be slipped into Kudo's clothes or book bag when the boy wasn't looking. At other times it turned up at his preferred seat in one or another of his university classes or was delivered to him. One particularly memorable return had been a few weeks ago. That time the jewel had arrived at Kudo's home stashed in a bouquet of red roses. A few weeks before that, it had been hidden in a box of coffee beans with a single red rose attached. There were also rumors that KID had visited the detective while he'd been in the hospital for getting himself stabbed by a serial killer (the brat got into way too much trouble even for a member of law enforcement).

With all this in mind, Nakamori had pulled out his records and looked them over. As he'd suspected, the number of heists had increased exponentially over the last year since Kudo's return from wherever it was he'd run off to for three years.

So it seemed that arrogant thief had a romantic interest in Japan's most famous young detective.

That was… Actually, Nakamori wasn't sure what that was other than weird. But that went without saying. After all, KID was insane. This was just one more piece of evidence of his insanity. After all, only a crazy person would use his heists to court a detective.

Nakamori couldn't suppress a certain amount of morbid curiosity as to how well that was working out for the thief. Kudo was obviously embarrassed by the attention, but he didn't seem to understand what it all meant.

But Nakamori didn't really want to think about Kaitou KID's love life. In fact, he very much did NOT want to think about it. Ever. The important thing was that, for the first time in more than two decades of chasing after Kaitou KID, he had discovered something about the thief that might actually give him the upper hand.

-0-

"I knew you'd be hiding here."

Shinichi nearly jumped out of his skin. Jerking around in his seat, he looked up to find Ran standing beside his table with her hands on her hips. His eyes went immediately to scan the café behind her. It wasn't until he'd checked everywhere and assured himself that there was no sign of Sonoko that he relaxed. The short-haired girl had been a prominent feature of his nightmares recently. She seemed to be torn between the desire to strangle him and wanting to use him to bait a trap for her KID-sama so she could convince the thief that she was so much more worthy of his affections than some detective geek.

"I'm not hiding," he said to Ran as she sat down in the seat across from him. A waiter came over and she ordered a cup of tea.

"Yes you are," came the matter-of-fact reply. "By the way, I ran into Hakuba-kun waiting outside your house when I stopped by there before coming here. I think he wants to talk to you."

Shinichi grimaced into his coffee mug. "I'm sure he does." Hakuba had been nagging him with questions ever since the wedding dress incident. Well, him and everyone else. He could count the number of people who didn't want to ask him about it on the fingers of one hand.

Shinichi wished they would all just stop fussing. It was just KID being KID as usual. It wasn't like it meant anything. Why did the thought send a pang through his chest?

Scratch that. He knew why. He wished he didn't though. It would make life so much easier.

Maybe he should stop going to KID heists. He'd thought about it several times—resolved to do so in fact half a dozen times already. But every time he swore not to go to another KID heist, he still somehow managed to find himself there with one excuse or another. If only KID would lay off on the teasing. Except, he supposed, that he didn't really want that either. Part of him liked the attention, embarrassing as it was. And that was the problem wasn't it? A heavy sigh escaped him and he gazed morosely into his mug. It was official. He'd lost his mind. He'd just admitted that he liked being the subject of the phantom thief's embarrassing pranks.

"You're moping again," Ran observed.

"I am not." Deny, deny, deny. That was the way to go because this was one truth he wanted to burry. Just because he'd apparently gone insane didn't mean he had to share the fact. Maybe if he denied it long and vehemently enough it would be true. "Can you give this to Nakamori-keibu for me?" he asked to change the subject, sliding an object wrapped in a white handkerchief across the table to Ran.

His friend raised an eyebrow and unwrapped the bundle. Inside the soft, white cloth was the emerald that had been the target of the Moonlight Magician's last heist. "Where was it this time?"

"My doorstep," Shinichi lied, fighting the urge to blush. The truth was he'd woken up to find the gem on his bedside table accompanied by yet another crimson rose. He was still debating whether to get the locks on his doors and windows upgraded. The idea of the thief wandering around in his house—his bedroom even—while he was asleep was a little creepy. Not, he suspected, that he could upgrade his locks enough to actually prevent the master thief from breaking in. It would just make Shinichi feel better.

Ran stirred some sugar into her tea and took a sip. "So how long are you planning on hiding out in this café?"

"I already told you, I'm not hiding." He held up the manila folder before him. "I'm working."

"In the darkest corner of an out-of-the-way café that you once told me served only passable coffee."

"…" Shinichi sighed. There was just no arguing with Ran sometimes. "Just until people forget about that stupid photo I guess."

"That might take a long time, especially considering how popular KID is."

"I know, but it's better than getting hounded by the media." He sank lower in his seat. "Stupid thief. If he wanted to pull a prank like that, he could at least have the courtesy to make sure the news crew wasn't standing right there. Is that too much to ask?"

"Haven't you considered that maybe that was the whole point?"

"What?" The detective blinked and stared across the table at the brunette. "What point? How can that have any kind of point?"

"Oh Shinichi, isn't it obvious? Why do you think he'd want the news crews to catch a picture of the two of you together like that?"

"Because he enjoys teasing people. It's how he entertains himself."

"Well, yeah. But if that was all he wanted, it wouldn't have mattered if someone took a picture or not. Unless you're saying it was an accident there were photographers there."

"No. He arranged it. I'm sure." In fact, KID had made sure that everyone at the heist had been present for the moment. "Why? What difference does that make?"

"You can be really slow sometimes, Shinichi."

The detective looked offended. "Fine then. Explain it to me, if I'm so slow. But I think I know KID better than you do."

"Probably," the girl agreed. "But I know people better than you do." Pausing, she took her time drinking more of her tea and enjoying the feeling of, for once, figuring something out before the famous detective she'd grown up with. She could just see him getting more and more antsy as he tried to figure out what she knew and then began to question his own lack of feasible conclusions. "He was making an announcement."

Coming out of his thoughts, Shinichi blinked. "Huh?"

"Kaitou KID. I believe he was making an announcement. All the evidence points to it. The publicity, the setting, the wedding theme, your matching clothes—the kiss! He obviously wants people to know that you're a couple."

Shinichi turned bright red. "We are NOT a couple!"

Ran waved her hands in a placating manner. "I know. No need to scream at me. I just meant to say that maybe he set that whole thing up as a way to tell the world that you are—or will be—a couple. Like a declaration of intent. And it worked too. I think more than half the population now thinks you two have been secretly dating." She almost laughed out loud at Shinichi's flabbergasted expression. "You haven't been watching the news, have you?"

Shinichi had to admit that he hadn't. Every time he turned on the TV, he found that stupid photo staring him in the face. He rarely hung around long enough to hear what anyone was saying about it. More importantly though, could Ran's deduction be correct…? But she couldn't be. Could she? Why was she smiling anyway? If she believed her own suggestion then she should be upset! After al, it would mean a criminal was after her best friend. Just because they'd decided they didn't want to date each other after all didn't mean she shouldn't be concerned about his wellbeing, right?

He bit back a groan. All he wanted to do right now was to go home and immerse himself in a nice mystery novel where things made sense and forget all about KID and the picture and the traitorous little fluttery feeling inside him that had been wondering what it would have been like if he hadn't turned his head away that time and the kiss had landed on his lips rather than his cheek.

Or maybe he should just ask Ran to knock him unconscious and hopefully give him amnesia while she was at it.

-0-

In another part of the city, a young man with short but wild hair sat observing the very photo that was the root of Shinichi's recent troubles as it was displayed on the small television screen situated in the corner of a frozen yogurt parlor. There was a reporter on the screen too, gesticulating as she speculated about the image, but he couldn't hear what she was saying from where he sat and didn't care to bother reading her lips.

Across the table from him, the daughter of one Nakamori Ginzo fumed. "Why can't they talk about anything other than that stupid thief anymore? It's the news! There's gotta be something else to say. I mean, there's a whole world out there!"

"Aren't you the least bit curious though?" her companion asked, cocking an eyebrow at her.

Aoko huffed. "What is there to be curious about? I do feel bad for Kudo-san though. That must have been a terrible experience."

Gee, thanks. Out loud, however, he only laughed (because really, that was exactly the reaction he'd expected from her). If he wanted to know what the most cynical opinions of any of his alter ego's actions were, he could always rely on Aoko. It was one of the things that hadn't changed at all about her since they'd still been in high school.

"I thought you wanted to congratulate me for winning that award for my recent shows." He pulled on a mock hurt expression. "But here we are and all you've been doing is ranting about KID. And after we haven't seen each other for ages too."

Aoko blinked then gave a sheepish laugh. "Oh, oops. Congratulations. I did watch all your shows that were on TV. You were amazing!"

He beamed. Now that was more like it. "Of course. Did you ever doubt me?"

She snorted. "Who would dare? But really, Kaito, where do you even get the time to do all that? I mean, between university classes and performing professionally, I'm surprised you even have time to meet me."

"That's because I'm awesome," he declared with a grin. "Besides, I will always make time to meet you." Though he had to admit it helped that he'd never needed much sleep. After all, it wasn't just classes and shows he had to work on. He also had to plan astonishing and brilliant ways to steal millions worth in jewels, among other things. Now that he thought about it, he really was a very busy man wasn't he? He liked it that way though. Much better to be busy than bored. As far as he was concerned, there was only one thing missing in his life.

His gaze flickered back to the television screen.

-TBC-

Notes: I thought I'd try writing something longer for a change. Wish me luck.