Urk. This is various kinds of terrible, but the idea was starting to get hard to ignore, so...

Warnings include shounen-ai (because, you know, ShinKai/KaiShin), grammar mistakes / issues because I'm too lazy to proofread, and cliche sappiness (because I'm just uncool like that).

Hope you enjoy? - Luna

Drinks On Me

Shinichi wasn't sure what he was expecting when he was dragged into the nearest bar after the successful conclusion of a murder/kidnapping case with Hattori, other than perhaps Hattori making a fool of himself after two shots and/or ranting loudly about his latest argument with Kazuha.

But he definitely wasn't expecting to see the Kaitou Kid of all people sitting moodily at the bar, downing Long Island iced teas with an expression that brought to mind sad kittens and kicked puppies.

If that wasn't weird enough, Kid didn't even look up when Shinichi walked in, electing to stare down into his glass with the broodingly dark aura of an angsty orphaned superhero.

Hattori, who was hovering behind Shinichi, sharply kneed Shinichi in the back of the leg when Shinichi didn't move from where he was frozen in the doorway. "Hey, Kudou? Anytime you'd like to get out of the way, you could, y'know. Do that."

"Uh, right." Shinichi stumbled away from the doorway, eyes still glued to Kid. Kid was motionless, still so intently focused that he appeared to be reading a novel located at the bottom of his glass, and Shinichi edged towards one of the tables far, far away from the bar.

Not because he was scared of Kid, or anything like that – he just… didn't know how he'd react if Kid spotted him. Shinichi kind of doubted that Kid wanted Shinichi to see him like this, in his civilian form and face all storm-cloudy, and Shinichi, despite how he generally treated Kid, didn't want to encroach upon his personal life. It was one of the unspoken rules of their relationship – heists were fair game, but otherwise, they respected each other's privacy.

Apparently, though, Hattori had no intention of following Shinichi to the far side of the bar, because he was an unobservant idiot, and loudly asked, "Where are you going, Kudou?" right as Shinichi tiptoed past Kid's back.

Resisting the urge to facepalm (why was he friends with this idiot?), Shinichi's head whipped around, spelling murder by burning at the stake as Hattori blinked obliviously at him.

"Why are you looking at me like that, Kudou? Isn't it better to sit here? It's closer, isn't it?"

No, but seriously, why was he friends with this idiot?

Storing the thought away for when he had more time to question unanswerable questions of the universe, Shinichi bit his lip as he rubbed at his face. Fortunately, Kid somehow (?) seemed to have not noticed Hattori's comment and hadn't even looked up from his drink, which was somehow both comforting and disturbing at the same time. Comforting for the obvious reason that it saved Shinichi some embarrassment, but disturbing because of Kid was this oblivious to his surroundings, there had to be something wrong.

Frowning tiredly, Shinichi let out a long sigh – what was the right thing to do in this situation? – before removing his hands from his face. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it," he muttered, and Hattori's eyebrows only rose up his forehead.

The Osakan didn't comment any further, though, just shrugged and took a seat at the nearest table. Shinichi had barely settled into the chair across from him when Hattori's cell phone vibrated at his hip.

Hattori groaned as he flipped open his phone to read the message, expression turning stormy. "Damn it, Kazuha," he mumbled, pawing at the keypad irritably, presumably to type back a snarky response.

Shinichi watched with mild amusement as Hattori's phone gave a faint bzzt in his hands, approximately two seconds after he'd hit the send button, and Hattori's face only darkened as he typed another reply.

This went on for several minutes before Hattori, looking about as cheerful as an enraged rhinoceros, slammed his hands against the table. "Dammit!"

"I assume Toyama-san wants you back home?"

"She does indeed, because she can't even trust me to go to a bar with my best friend and not be checking out some random girl," Hattori growled, stuffing his phone into his back pocket. "Sorry, Kudou."

"No, I understand." Shinichi silently wondered if he needed to subtly recommend a couples' therapist to them.

Probably. And maybe not subtly.

Muttering darkly to himself, Hattori stalked out of the bar, leaving Shinichi shaking his head after him. He pitied the poor man – he was so desperately whipped.

With a sigh, the detective dropped his face into his hands. Now that Hattori was gone, he couldn't help but stare at Kid's back, the only part of the phantom thief he could see.

He observed two things: One, there were knots along Kid's shoulders that were visible even from across a bar.

And two, Kid had a very nice back, all shapely muscle and smooth curves. Did he work out?

Oh God. Shinichi nearly banged his head against the table. Yes, it had been a long time since he had been in a relationship – how many years had it been since he'd dated Ran? – but Kid? Thinking Kid, the world's most annoying, smirky criminal, was attractive was very, um. Not good.

Except, Shinichi thought dimly as Kid straightened as he reached across the bar to retrieve another drink from the bartender and the muscles in his back rippled underneath his frankly scandalous shirt, Kid was attractive. Very attractive. Despite that he was currently downing what appeared to be his twelfth Long Island iced tea.

And okay, maybe Shinichi had always thought that, in the back of his mind, but seeing Kid out of his usual environment was, well, very… interesting?

Oh good God.

Shinichi let his head fall to the table with a clunk.

He was abruptly pulled from his attempts to convince himself that Kid was not attractive(Kid was not attractive, Kid was not attractive, dammit his back muscles were nice – nonono, Kid was not attractive) when someone tapped him on the shoulder and Shinichi looked up into the concerned face of one of the bar's few waitresses. "Er, Kudou-san?" she asked, penciled eyebrows drawn together in worry. "Are you all right?"

Oh yes, perfectly all right – just dealing with the fact that Kid has distracting back muscles even when he's drowning himself in alcohol, most likely out of depression.

Instead of verbalizing that, for the obvious reason that the waitress would probably call an ambulance, Shinichi just smiled as disarmingly as possible. "I'm fine, Chisa-san. Just a long day at work."

"Oooh, was it a difficult case? You've got to tell me about it some time," the waitress, Chisa, chirruped brightly, flashing a lipstick smile, and Shinichi nodded noncommittally. He'd frequented this bar for long enough that he knew the staff fairly well, and Chisa was nice enough, if not somewhat coquettish.

"So what do you want tonight, Kudou-san?" Chisa asked, producing an order pad out of who knows where, and Shinichi opened his mouth, about to ask for his usual bourbon on the rocks, but he stopped short when he gaze flickered to the bar and he caught sight of a large, tattooed man petting Kid's back.

My back muscles, Shinichi thought indignantly, then mentally smacked himself. And now he was getting possessive. Over Kid's back muscles.

He really needed help.

But judging from the way Kid kept flinching away from the man's touch, Kid probably needed it more than he did. At this very moment, at least.

Casting an apologetic smile at Chisa, Shinichi stood and carefully navigated his way through the tables and chairs to the bar. As he approached, he heard the tattooed man cooing, "What do you say, gorgeous? Wanna head back to my place?"

"No, not really," Kid mumbled, the words almost unnoticeably slurred. He shrugged out of the man's grasp; the man relocated his hand more firmly to Kid's hip. Kid stiffened visibly.

"C'mon, sweet thing," the man drawled. "We'll have fun. Lots of it. You'll like it, I promise." His tone became less genial, taking on an edge. "Don't say no."

That was when Shinichi rather exuberantly swung an arm around Kid's shoulders and sang, "There you are, babe!"

The look on Kid's face was absolutely priceless, Shinichi decided, as he blinked blankly at Shinichi, all wide indigo eyes and parted lips and tousled dark hair, and Shinichi wanted to remember it for a long, long time.

Meanwhile, the man had donned an expression of irritation. "You said you didn't have a boyfriend," he grunted at Kid, who was still staring at Shinichi.

Shinichi pouted.

Kid's jaw dropped.

"How could you tell him that, Kicchan?" Shinichi squealed, and Kid was just about gaping at this point. "When we're in love?"

He punctuated his question with a loud wail, which he buried in the side of Kid's neck, right above his collar. Kid smelled faintly of chocolate and soap, and Shinichi vaguely wondered why.

"Uh…" Kid prodded at Shinichi's shoulder before turning back to the man. "Right. This is my boyfriend, tan – I mean, Shin. So… maybe you should just go."

From what Shinichi could see, though his view was obscured by the curl of Kid's hair at his nape, the man's face had turned disgruntled as he removed his hand from Kid's waist. He gave a small tch sound before exiting the bar, shoulders slumped and strides large and hurried.

Once he was out of sight, Shinichi quickly removed himself from Kid. "Sorry about that," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "But I saw you getting harassed, so I thought I'd help out."

Kid snorted, tracing the rim of his glass. "I'm not a girl, tantei-kun. I don't need to be saved. And not by you." He glanced around the bar. "How many minutes are you giving me before you call the police?"

"First of all, I'm not going to call the police. This isn't a heist, so you're off limits. And second of all, I didn't help you because I somehow convinced myself that you were a girl," Shinichi answered crisply. "I saw you when I came in here. You didn't look too great, so I was worried." He jerked his head in the direction of Kid's glass. "What is that, your ninth?"

"Fourth. And I'm a heavyweight, so I'll be fine." Nevertheless, Kid pushed the glass out of the way as he folded his hands in front of his mouth. His gaze slid towards Shinichi hesitantly. "You were worried about me?"

"Yes."

"About me?"

It took Shinichi a moment to realize what Kid was implying. He felt a pang of annoyance. "Look, just because we're not exactly the closest friends in the universe doesn't mean I'm not allowed to care. Even if you won't admit it, we're not enemies anymore. Not after this long." He folded his arms across his chest and looked away, trying to will away the flush that rose in his cheeks. "You look as if you need someone to talk to, and I've got time. So tell me what's wrong."

For a moment, Kid didn't say anything. Shinichi hazarded a glance over at him to find that Kid was regarding him steadily, eyes unexpectedly focused and clear.

"I see," Kid finally said, turning back to his drink. He lifted the glass to his lips before murmuring, "Do you really want to know what's wrong?"

"Uh, why else would I have asked?"

"Right." Kid's smile was faint as he swirled the melting ice in his glass. He leveled a solid stare at Shinichi. "Hope you know what you're getting yourself into."

Shinichi pulled out the stool beside his. "I was hoping you'd tell me about that."

And we're going to cut it off here, because I'm a terrible person like that. This might become a twoshot, if anyone's actually interested in seeing a continuation.

On a somewhat related note, I'm trying to write a Halloween fic, so... yeah, I'll try to post that on Friday.

Until then, thanks for reading, my dears (drop me a review?), and I'll see you soon! *waves* - Luna