Prompt: "Kaito and Shinichi are hiding from their friends to be alone together."

Requestor: Snow niji

Pairings(s): established Shinichi x Kaito / Kaito x Shinichi, married!Heiji x Kazuha, engaged!Hakuba x Aoko

Note(s): Did anyone else think of "Alone Together" by Fall Out Boy while reading that prompt? No? Maybe it's just me.

Alone Together

It wasn't as if Shinichi and Kaito didn't like their friends – the opposite was true. Both of them adored all of them.

It was just, sometimes, the two of them needed some time away from them. As in, alone. By themselves.

Like now, for instance. Hattori and his wife, formerly Toyama Kazuha (and now Hattori Kazuha), had come in from Osaka for the three weeks before Aoko and Hakuba's wedding. And they'd insisted on staying at the Kudou (and Kuroba) home, despite Shinichi's protests.

"Don't be so stingy, Kudou," Hattori had exclaimed, slapping his best friend hard on the shoulder.

"I'm pretty sure you're the stingy one, refusing to pay for a hotel," Shinichi had grumbled in response and only received another smack.

And ever since the Hattoris arrived, Kaito and Shinichi had spent most of their time helping Aoko do some last minute wedding planning and keeping Hattori from killing Hakuba before the big day. Both tasks were harder than they seemed.

The combination of selecting frosting flavors and prying Hattori off of the groom, as well as the two Osakans inhabiting their home, hadn't left Shinichi and Kaito with much time alone with each other.

Which led to now.

"You need to be quieter," Shinichi told Kaito as he glanced up and down the second-floor hall. Hattori and Kazuha were arguing loudly on the first floor, but you could never be too safe.

From where he was prying the door to the attic open, Kaito rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure I'm the quiet one in this relationship." He smirked over his shoulder at where Shinichi was standing. "If you know what I mean."

"What… oh my God, shut up," Shinichi snapped at him, scowling as he realized Kaito's meaning. "You can get pretty loud too."

"True enough," Kaito grinned, and with a shower of dust, he managed to finally get the door open. A wobbly ladder unfolded slowly to the floor.

Shinichi eyed it skeptically. "Do you think we're going to die on the way up?"

"At least I'll die by my darling Shinichi's side," Kaito grinned and was rewarded when Shinichi swatted him on the shoulder blade.

"You're really cheeky today."

"Well, I haven't had a proper chance to flirt with you lately, so…"

"Right." Shinichi paused, listening for sounds of movement below. Hattori was saying something about owls, and Kazuha was replying with something about… falcons? "Okay, I think we're still good. Go up."

Raising his eyebrows, Kaito regarded the rickety stairs with slight concern. "You're really making me go first?"

Fluttering his eyelashes coyly, Shinichi gave Kaito his best pleading look, letting his bottom lip tremble. "Don't you want to make sure it's safe before I go up?"

Shinichi laughed as Kaito blushed before giving a resigned sign and taking a step towards the ladder. He reached out to pat Kaito patronizingly on the shoulder. "You, my friend, are completely and utterly whipped."

"And here I was thinking we were more than friends," Kaito muttered as he began climbing up the ladder. It creaked threateningly, but ultimately held strong.

Once Kaito had made it safely into the attic, Shinichi followed him up. He pulled the trapdoor closed, watching as the stairs folded up on themselves. "Well, we've probably got about an hour before Hattori realizes we're gone."

"Probably." Kaito flicked on the lights, illuminating the room. The attic was fairly sparse, with a few boxes of photo albums up against one wall and a couple pieces of old furniture scattered around.

"Haven't been up here in a while," Shinichi remarked, glancing around. He zeroed in on the photo albums, eyebrows lifting as he gave a sigh. "I forgot how many pictures my mom used to take."

"Are there any baby photos of you?"

Shinichi decided he did not like the look in Kaito's eyes.

"No, I'm pretty sure I burned them before I turned fifteen," he answered, somewhat truthfully. He had burned at least one album, but he sincerely doubted his mother had salvaged at least five. Not that Kaito needed to know that.

"You're no fun." Pouting, Kaito made his way over to a bare part of the ground by the wall. With some surprise, he swept a hand over the floorboards and added, "Hey, the ground's not dusty."

"You know how Ran comes to clean up every once in a while? She does the attic, too," explained Shinichi, moving to sit down beside him. Casually, he leaned against Kaito, dropping his head on his shoulder. "That's why there's no dust. She mentioned that she cleaned up here when we met to talk about the tablecloths yesterday."

"Wait, but that means that if Hattori has the sense to call her, we'll be busted sooner?" Kaito wondered, reaching up to lace a hand through Shinichi's hair and pull him closer. Their cheeks brushed comfortably.

"That's all right," Shinichi told him, turning his head to look at Kaito upside down. Kaito's eyes were warm and familiar as they met his, and he let a smile work itself across his face. "We've still got enough time, don't we?"

"Yes. Yes, we do," Kaito beamed and leaned down to kiss him.

Hattori glanced up at the ceiling. The house had gone quiet. "You think we can stop yelling now?" He coughed, rubbing his throat. "Seeing as I don't actually care whether you think owls are better than falcons and all. Y'know."

"Oh, really. I had no clue you didn't care." Kazuha rolled her eyes, taking a sip of her coffee before balancing her face in her hands. "But about the yelling - I guess we can stop? I mean, I can't hear them moving anymore, so they must've made it to the attic."

"Right." Hattori dumped a few teaspoons of sugar into his cup. He looked at the clock hanging above the kitchen table. "How long should we wait before we pretend to get concerned and go look for them?"

"I don't know. At least an hour, maybe an hour and a half? Kudou-kun might get suspicious if we wait longer than two hours, though." Kazuha smiled, casting a quick look up at the ceiling. "It was really nice of Ran-chan to suggest we give them some time, don't you think?"

"Yeah, it was." Hattori nodded, stirring his coffee. He donned a pensive expression. "I mean, I felt sort of bad for forcing ourselves upon them for a whole three weeks, and all."

Kazuha laughed, somewhat disbelievingly. "Oh, you have a conscience?"

"Of course I do, idiot. Well – a slight one," Hattori answered, scandalized. He leaned back in his chair, stretching. "I mean, they kept looking at each other over the pictures of flower arrangements. It was pretty obvious they needed some alone time."

"Oh my, was Heiji being sensitive to a need for romance? How completely unbelievable."

"Shut up, you married me."

Let's all give a round of applause for Ran being a perceptive sweetheart.

Anyway, yeah. I hope that was all you dreamed of, snow niji, and that it was mildly entertaining for the rest of you. I'll be back in a few days with a Shinichi-discovers-Kaito's-fear fic! Till then, my darlings! - Luna