Prompt: "'Four times that people walk in on the Detective of the East and Kaitou KID in awkward situations, and the one time they don't.' Awkward may or may not involve vaguely intimate positions."

Requestor: teawithmochi

Pairing: eventual Shinichi x Kaito / Kaito x Shinichi

Note(s): Y'know, I've always kind of wanted to write a four-plus-one fic. So I'm actually pretty glad teawithmochi requested it.

This Isn't What It Looks Like

1.

Shinichi hadn't known about this side of his best friend.

Which said a lot, really, he admitted as he felt Kaito cling to his torso like an oversized koala and babble something in what he assumed was supposed to be Japanese. Either that Kaito didn't trust him not to exploit his – er – weakness… or that he knew Shinichi well enough to know that Shinichi would, given the opportunity. Shinichi wasn't sure which was better.

"So let me get this straight," Shinichi said slowly, touching the back of Kaito's hand to get his attention. "You're scared of fish?"

Even at the word itself, Kaito shuddered and clung to him even tighter. "Yes! Because f-f-finny things are terrifying!"

"Right." Shinichi twisted to pat him awkwardly on the head. "I won't leave out sushi again, okay? So can you get off of me?" He glanced over Kaito's shoulder at the offending strips of sashimi sitting on his kitchen table.

"Not until the – the thing is gone!" Kaito buried his face in Shinichi's hair.

"Um." Shinichi's back was starting to ache from holding Kaito's weight. "I can't exactly, um, move until you let go, so it's going to be a bit difficult to put the sushi away."

"No."

"Okay, well, then…" Shinichi briefly wondered if he should just save himself some trouble and knock Kaito out.

As he was pondering the logistics of reaching his tranquilizer wristwatch (could he really reach around Kaito and aim blindly, he wondered?) the door behind him opened. "Hey, Kudou, what's going on in –"

Shinichi instinctively turned to see Hattori blinking in the doorway. Kaito clung all the tighter to him.

There was a short moment of silence, during with Hattori stared, Shinichi stood, and Kaito whimpered.

"Um."

Nobody was entirely sure who said that.

"This… isn't what it looks like?" Shinichi offered. Although he didn't really know what it looked like, to be honest.

Hattori just nodded, very slowly, and backed out of the room, shutting the door as he went.

2.

"Would you just give me the jewel?" Shinichi snarled, lunging at Kaito – well, technically Kid – rather gracelessly and almost falling off the roof as he did. Damn it.

He was getting kind of annoyed. Understandably so. Shinichi been trying to get the Lovers' Promise from Kid for the past ten minutes, and somehow, it had evolved into some weird game of Keep Away.

Kid laughed and dodged. The bright red ruby flashed in his hand. "No, no, tantei-kun, I can't do that!"

"Please," Shinichi groaned, finding his balance and whirling on Kid. "You bypassed security, you got it out of the display, you checked with the moonlight. It's your win, you know."

"Mm…" Kid seemed to pause to think, tapping his chin mock-pensively. "That's true… but it's also a lot of fun to play with you. So, no."

"I am going to kill you later for this," Shinichi grumbled, wiping his mouth as he ran for Kid again.

Feigning shock, Kid danced out of the way, brandishing the gem tauntingly over his head. "Could it be? The Great Detective of the East is threatening murder?" He swung his arm out wide, Shinichi's fingertips brushing against his forearm. "What is the world coming to?"

"Could you not, maybe." Shinichi stopped moving, panting into the back of his hand. "God, you're ridiculous."

"How rude," Kid gasped, something that could only be described as a chortle leaving his lips. Shinichi hated him very much for the duration of that chortle. "How could you say that about me? I'm just a lowly phantom thief."

With an irritated growl, Shinichi launched himself straight for Kid. As Kid swept easily to one side to evade him, Shinichi suddenly changed courses and managed to tackle him to the rooftop.

They hit the ground with similar grunts of pain. Shinichi's hands, stretched out to break his fall, landed on the rooftop with enough impact to tear the skin. Shinichi winced (that was going to need to be bandaged later), lifting one hand to grasp Kid's wrists about his head and leaving the other above Kid's shoulder.

Sensing Kid was about to knee him, Shinichi maneuvered his legs to box him in. "Oh no you don't," he smirked down at Kid, prying the Lovers' Promise from his hands.

Kid grinned back breathlessly, eyes sparkling behind the monocle. His hat had fallen off somewhere along the line, lessening the shadows over his face. At this point, all Shinichi could see was Kaito with a monocle.

"Looks like you've caught me, tantei-kun," he purred suggestively, and Shinichi flinched at the images his voice brought to mind.

"Was that really necessary –"

He was interrupted when the door to the rooftop banged open. "Kudou-kun, I finally got free of the… um."

Jumping, Shinichi looked at the door to see Hakuba standing there, eyeing them openmouthed. The door slammed shut behind him.

"Er…" The blond took a step back. There was the faintest pink rising up his neck. "Should I… Did I interrupt something?"

Shinichi winced, glancing down at Kid. "This isn't –"

"Yes," Kid chirped cheerfully. "Tantei-kun here was trying to take my jewel."

Silence, then –

"Was it really necessary to phrase it like that?" Shinichi choked, blushing an impressive seventeen shades of red.

"With a reaction like that? Definitely~!"

"You – gah, I really just – I can't –"

"Use your words, tantei-kun. You can do it. I believe in you."

"I hate you."

"That's not very nice."

Hakuba managed to escape back into the gallery as they argued.

3.

"Why do I have to do this?" Shinichi grumbled, even as he lifted the spoon to Kaito's lips yet again. "I'm not your doctor."

Swallowing, Kaito smirked at him. "Well, you could be my nurse," he suggested, leaning back against the pillows. "I've got the costume. You could probably make it work." He wiggled his eyebrows provocatively.

Shinichi looked at him askance. "You're really making me question if you're actually sick."

"You took my temperature five minutes ago. Thirty-nine degrees." Kaito opened his mouth pointedly. "Ahhh."

With a sigh, Shinichi scooped up more soup. He dismally questioned why he even bothered to take care of Kaito if this was the thanks he got.

Still, somehow, when Kaito hadn't turned up at his house by lunchtime, Shinichi had been concerned enough to go to his house and find him collapsed in bed, coughing up a storm and rendered immobile. And care enough to actually go attempt making soup. And then try to feed it to Kaito.

Sometimes Shinichi really wondered about himself.

They fell into a steady rhythm, Shinichi spooning soup and Kaito swallowing, dropping into a comfortable quiet.

Kaito finally broke it as he held up a hand to show that he was full. "I'm good."

"Okay." Shinichi set down the empty bowl on Kaito's nightstand.

Warm silence.

"You know, I wasn't joking about the nurse costume."

"Oh my God, are you still thinking about that?" Shinichi groaned, facepalming. "Why would you even want to see me in a nurse costume?"

"For a lot of reasons," Kaito hummed, settling back against his pillows. He smiled faintly at Shinichi. "The first being that you'd look gorgeous."

For some reason, the usage of gorgeous combined with the grin on Kaito's face made Shinichi flush. "Yes, well, I'm still not going to do it, no matter how much you flatter me. I know you'll take pictures and use them as blackmail." He rose primly. "Anyway, I'm going to go now. You go to sleep." And stick his head under water, because he desperately needed to cool off. Damn Kaito and his natural flirtatiousness.

"What? No!" Kaito cried with surprising strength. As Shinichi turned towards the door, he reached out and wrapped his arms around Shinichi's hips, yanking him backwards.

Shinichi's cheeks seemed to relight. "Hey, what are you –" He cut off with a flinch as his shirt rode up and he felt Kaito's cheek – feverishly hot – press again his lower back.

"Let go!" wailed Shinichi.

"Don't go!" wailed Kaito.

Reaching for the nearest object, which happened to be the soup spoon, Shinichi twisted to smack Kaito repeatedly on the arm with it. Kaito only mewled, gripping tighter.

"Seriously, Kaito –"

"Um, guys…?"

They both froze, Shinichi holding the spoon above Kaito's shoulder and Kaito's face pressed against Shinichi's back.

Aoko stood in the doorway, slightly red-faced. "I, er… You didn't reply to my texts, Kaito, so I, er, thought something might be wrong."

"This… isn't…" Shinichi stammered.

"What it looks like?" Kaito finished.

"Um – okay." Aoko blinked three times in a row. "I'm just – going to go, now." She awkwardly left the room.

4.

"I have something to say."

At that, Shinichi looked up from his book. Kaito was standing there, expression uncharacteristically serious.

"Okay." Shinichi blinked, shutting his book and standing. What was with this atmosphere? "What else is new?"

"Er…" Kaito coughed, and was it just Shinichi, or were his cheeks pink? "I…"

When he trailed off, averting his gaze, Shinichi stared in bewilderment. "Kaito, are you okay?" He slanted his head at him. "Are you sick again?"

"No, not really." Kaito finally met his eyes, taking a few strides forward till he was only about half an arm's length away. At this distance, Shinichi could see the nervousness in the twitch of his lips and stilted blinks, could see his jaw clench and his hands shake.

Something stuttered in Shinichi's chest. "What's wrong?" He barely dared to move.

"I…" Kaito moved a little closer, close enough that Shinichi could measure the length of his eyelashes. His breath splashed against Shinichi's lips, washing over them warmly. Shinichi watched the rise and fall of his shoulders.

That same thing from before rattled in Shinichi's chest, behind his ribcage, and Shinichi realized belatedly that it was his heart.

Kaito lifted a hand, slowly, to cup Shinichi's face. His fingers traced Shinichi's jaw.

It was getting harder and harder to breathe.

"I think – well, no, I know," Kaito whispered, almost inaudibly, "that I lo –"

"Kuroba-kun? Shinichi?"

They both turned to look at the door at the sound of a female voice. Kaito's hand dropped away from Shinichi's face.

From the doorway, Ran tilted her head at them. "Are you – oh." She flushed, covering her mouth. "Oh my, I'm so, so, sorry, Kuroba-kun –"

Kaito shook his head. The smile on his lips as he stepped away from Shinichi was so incredibly fake Shinichi was surprised that it didn't just fall off completely. "It's fine, Mouri-san." He exhaled. "This isn't what it looks like."

Shinichi frowned.

+1.

As Kaito waved cheerily at Ran, watching her walk down the street, Shinichi asked, "What did you mean, it wasn't what it looked like?"

"Huh?" Kaito turned to him, surprised. "What?"

"Earlier, in the library," Shinichi reminded him, stepping back into his house. Kaito followed, though with some confusion. "When Ran walked in, you said, 'This isn't what it looks like.'" After Kaito had entered, he closed the door and leaned against it, effectively trapping Kaito in place. "I want to know what it was, if it wasn't what it looked like."

"Oh?" Kaito smiled. "What did it look like, to you?"

Shinichi sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It... well, it looked as if you were about to confess to me." He shot Kaito a glance through his bangs. "Was I wrong?"

"Uh…" Kaito hesitated, feeling Shinichi's eyes blaze into his. He swallowed hard, the up-down motion of his throat not lost on Shinichi. "Not really, no."

Something like relief poured through Shinichi's veins. Oh.

"Okay." With a scrape of shoe to door, Shinichi reached forward, looping his arms around a slightly startled Kaito's neck. Eyelashes lowering, he murmured, "Then this is exactly what it looks like."

Before Kaito could get out another word, Shinichi tugged him forward into a kiss.

And this time, no one interrupted them.

Ye... ah. So there's my first four-plus-one fic, I guess?

Hope you enjoyed, teawithmochi (and anyone else who read this), and I'll be back in a bit with a switching-places fic! Mwah! - Luna