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

Summary: When first year student Aida Itsuki imagined life as famous detective Kudou Shinichi's college roommate, he hadn't counted on Kuroba Kaito.

Pairing(s): Kuroba Kaito x Kudou Shinichi

My Roommate's Crazy Boyfriend

By V. Shalyr

When Aida Itsuki, new first-year university student, found out that his roommate was going to be none other than famous young detective Kudou Shinichi, he'd been understandably excited and more than a little nervous. He'd grown up reading detective novels, and with his dreams of entering the police force after graduation, this was like being granted a once in a lifetime opportunity. An opportunity to learn from the best, to meet some of the brightest minds in law enforcement, maybe even to get his foot in the door and jumpstart his career.

Of course, that was what he wanted to believe. In truth, he hadn't quite known what to expect. All he knew for sure was that college life promised not to be boring.

He had no idea how right he was.

The first time he met Kuroba Kaito, the guy had invited himself into their dorm room at four in the morning. Itsuki had almost had a heart attack. He'd thought they were getting burgled.

Itsuki stared wide-eyed at the intruder, his limbs petrified by a combination of shock and fear. The guy was tall and lean with a mop of wild, brown hair and eyes that made Itsuki feel like he could see into his mind. It was a disconcerting feeling to be sure, but not nearly as disturbing as the fact that this room was on the fifth floor.

The intruder grinned at him and gave a little bow. The window beside him was still open and he made no move to shut it.

"So you would be Shin-chan's roommate, yes?"

"Uh, yeah."

Well, at least it seemed the guy wasn't a burglar. A burglar wouldn't be introducing himself—or moving to sit on the edge of Kudou's bed. At least Itsuki didn't think so; he'd never met a real burglar before. The detective muttered something in his sleep but didn't wake.

"He's a heavy sleeper," the intruder assured him, which wasn't really reassuring. "I thought I'd go ahead and introduce myself, seeing as I'm in the neighborhood and you'll probably be seeing a lot of me if you're going to be living here."

At that point in the conversation, Itsuki finally got his voice unstuck from his throat and asked, "Who the hell are you?"

"The name's Kuroba Kaito, magician extraordinaire and Shin-chan's boyfriend. I'm a student at this school too, but a year ahead of you two. Actually, I wanted to room with Shin-chan myself, but first-years get their roommates randomly assigned by the school."

He pulled a face as if to express the complete unfairness of this rule then fixed Itsuki with a piercing stare that made him feel like a bug under a magnifying glass.

"So," he drawled, "are you here studying law enforcement as well?"

When Kudou woke, he hadn't seemed surprised at all to see the open window or the magician in their room. All he'd done was sigh and ask him to please, please use the door next time—and knock first like a normal person. Because completely not normal though he was, it would be nice if he could at least pretend once in a while.

Itsuki had heard the rumors of Kudou Shinichi's "crazy boyfriend" before, but he hadn't believed them until then.

.

The second time he met Kuroba Kaito, Itsuki had been studying. The room window slid open and he jumped, almost falling out of his chair. He could have sworn it had been locked.

"Hey," the second-year greeted him cheerfully.

"Um, Kudou-san's not here right now."

"I know that." Kuroba made his way over to the room's other desk and pulled open one of the drawers, rifling through its contents. "Ah, there we go. Just what I was looking for."

A handful of manila folders were extracted and vanished with a flourish. In their place, the magician held a plain white envelope, which he tossed onto the pile of papers at Itsuki's elbow.

"When he starts looking for those folders, give him this. He should be back from his criminal law class in about—let's see, two minutes."

That said, Kuroba climbed back out the window and shut it again behind him.

Itsuki was still staring when Kudou opened the door almost exactly two minutes later. He pulled his textbooks from his bag, placed them in a neat stack on his desk, and then hung the empty bag on the back of his chair. That done, he sat down on said chair, pulled out the same drawer Kuroba had earlier, and began sorting through its contents. His eyebrows rose a fraction with each second that he failed to find what he was looking for.

"Um, Kudou-san?"

The detective started, apparently having forgotten that he wasn't alone. "Oh, hi Aida-san. Can I help you with something?"

Instead of answering, Itsuki held the envelope out to him. Kudou stared at it for a moment before gingerly accepting it. He opened it just as carefully as though half expecting it to explode, unfolded the paper inside and skimmed its contents. When he was done, he let the note drop on top of his laptop and shook his head.

"I should have known this would happen."

"Can I ask what he took?"

"My most recent case files. He's probably terrorizing the members of the local police that I'll be working with as we speak. They aren't that familiar with him since I only just transferred into their department. They don't know the rules yet." Kudou sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Those poor officers. I guess I'd better go and see if I can rescue them."

"Rules?" Itsuki repeated, bewildered.

"Kaito calls them rules, but they're basically things like not giving me too many cases and forcing me to take a vacation every other week. You could say it's Kaito's way of making sure I'm not too overworked. I wish he'd go about it differently though."

Yeah, Itsuki thought, those poor officers all right.

.

"I'm... starting to wonder if I should have taken my aunt up on her offer and stayed with her instead of living in the dorms."

Naomi, one of his closest friends from high school, looked at him like she thought he'd lost his mind. "Why? I mean, it was all you'd talk about just three weeks ago."

They were seated in the back of the room, waiting for their chemistry professor to arrive and start the class.

"You know Kuroba Kaito?"

"You mean that magician in the sophomore class? Of course I do. Who doesn't? You've got to go see one of his shows. He's amazing."

"That's one way of putting it, I guess."

"You've met him?"

"He... introduced himself. You know how everyone says Kudou-san's got a boyfriend? Well, that's him."

Naomi opened her mouth then shut it again. "Oh." Her cheeks turned pink. "What was he like? I heard that he's really charming."

"Charming, huh? I don't know about that. It's hard to find someone anything other than creepy when you wake up at one in the morning to find him carrying your roommate out the door."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Let's just say that if he says something to you like "oh, and by the way, I'm kidnapping Shin-chan for the weekend", he's not being at all metaphorical."

Her brow furrowed, but the classroom door opened before she could ask him to clarify. Instead of the professor, however, the person who walked to the front of the classroom was a tall young man dressed in the university uniform. Itsuki stared as said young man dropped his backpack onto the ground beside the professor's desk and began to write his name on the chalkboard.

"But that's—! He's—! That's him! What is he doing here?"

Naomi shushed him just in time for them to hear the newcomer introduce himself as Kuroba Kaito, second-year chemistry and computer science student.

"Professor Yamamoto was called away for an emergency meeting, so I'm going to be taking over for today," he said. "Put your books away. This is going to be a practical class. Don't worry, you won't be learning about any really dangerous chemicals until next semester."

All throughout the hour, Itsuki kept expecting... something. Okay, so he didn't know what exactly he expected to happen, just something different and bizarre. But nothing did, and Kuroba turned out to be quite a good teacher.

"I don't know why you think he's weird," Naomi said, packing her things at the end of the lesson. "I like him."

Itsuki could only shrug helplessly, unable to reconcile the polite and serious young man who had just taught their class with the person who routinely broke into his dormitory room and presented Kudou Shinichi with red roses every morning.

.

By the time Halloween rolled around, Itsuki thought he'd worn out his ability to feel shocked.

Unfortunately, he was wrong.

Everyone on campus had pitched in for the spooky holiday, and the dormitory hallways were decked out with spider webs, black butcher paper, and dancing skeletons done in white poster paint. Itsuki had plans to join a group of his friends at a party downtown, but first, he had a costume to pick up from his room. Just as the door came into view, however, it slammed open and Kudou Shinichi scrambled out into the corridor, hair disheveled and eyes wide with panic. Before he'd taken two steps, a hand grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him back accompanied by an amused, "You should know better than to run by now. There's no way I'm letting you skip Halloween this year."

"But I've got cases!" That sounded a lot like a whine.

"You've always got cases. I already let you skip last year because of a case. You're not the only detective in Japan, you know. Give everyone else a chance to practice."

Further protests from Kudou were muffled as the door shut again, and Itsuki distinctly heard the click of the lock.

Perhaps he could borrow a costume from someone else, just something simple that would get him through the party door. Naomi's brother always went all out for Halloween, and he was bound to have an extra costume or two lying around.

By the time Itsuki made it downtown, the party was already well underway. He showed his invitation at the door and set off through the noise and the lights in search of his friends. He found them at a round table draped in crimson not far from the refreshments and sank into one of the chairs with a sigh of relief.

"You're late," Naomi said, frowning at him from beneath the wide brim of her witch's hat. "Why didn't you answer your phone?"

"I'm really sorry. I forgot my cell back in my room."

And he hadn't wanted to go back and fetch it.

"Well, at least you're here now. Do you know if Kudou-san will be coming? You still haven't introduced us yet."

Before Itsuki could answer, a dark-skinned young man he didn't know stopped beside their table.

"Did I hear one of you mention Kudou? As in the detective Kudou Shinichi?"

"Uh, yeah," Naomi said, taking in the details of his samurai costume with interest. "Why?"

"Hattori Heiji," the guy said, holding out his hand. "Nice to meet you. I was just looking for him. I could have sworn Kuroba said they'd be here."

"Are you a friend of theirs?"

"Yeah, all the way from Osaka."

A sudden hush fell over the gathering and the lights dimmed, leaving only a spotlight on the dance floor. Illuminated by that pale glow was a rather striking couple.

"Now those are what I call costumes," the girl on Naomi's other side said, impressed.

The man looked downright demonic, which had probably been the whole point. The large, dark wings folded behind him looked so real that it wouldn't have surprised Itsuki if they had moved. The odd markings on the man's face added to the eerie feel of those too-red eyes and fanged grin. The fingers of the hand Itsuki could see resting on the young woman's hip ended in wicked looking claws. Or at least Itsuki thought it was a woman until he got a closer look at that face—and recognized it.

"Is that Kudou?"

"You better believe it." Hattori whistled. "Looks like an interpretation of Beauty and the Beast this time, or is it supposed to be angels and demons? I never think it's possible, but somehow, Kuroba manages to outdo himself every year."

Shinichi was dressed in a flowing gown as white as new fallen snow. A matching white ribbon had been laced through his wig, although the long, black tresses still somehow failed to hide his signature cowlick. A minimal amount of makeup had been applied to his face to complete the disguise, and Itsuki was reminded forcefully of the fact that Kudou Shinichi had a beautiful actress mother from whom he'd apparently inherited some of his looks.

"Heiji!"

A girl fought her way through the stunned crowd towards them, her wavy, brown ponytail spilling down her back between glittering, gossamer dragonfly wings. She grabbed Hattori's hand as soon as he came within reach.

"There you are! Did you forget? You promised me a dance. Come on, let's go join Kaito-kun and Shinichi-kun before the song ends. And have you seen Ran? We're supposed to go see a movie with her and Hakuba-san after this."

Gradually, the surprise wore off and the party came back to life. The noise level picked up and Itsuki tried to drink more of his soda only to realize that he'd already finished it.

.

The thing with dorm rooms, Itsuki reflected, was that you couldn't really give anyone any privacy. Of course, one occupant or the other could always go somewhere else, but there were some things you just couldn't avoid. Phone conversations were one of them.

First semester finals were rapidly approaching, and Itsuki lay on his bed with a textbook propped open in front of him, trying and failing not to hear his roommate's side of the conversation.

"You don't need me to help you rehearse. I know for a fact that you already know all your lines. You never forget anything."

Kuroba's reply was a faint and unintelligible string of syllables at the other end of the line like loud static.

"Yes, but couldn't you practice by yourself?"

Kudou rested his elbow on his desk.

"How is it different? It's not like I have any lines to say."

Out of the corner of his eye, Itsuki caught a rather exasperated expression as it crossed his face.

"Okay, okay, fine. Can we just get this over with? I have a meeting with the police in ten minutes."

Dropping his pen, the detective leaned back in his chair, preparing to just listen. Itsuki itched to know what performance it was Kuroba was practicing for. From what he could tell, whenever the school's drama club had a production, they always came asking the magician for his help. Acting, special effects, prop design, directing—he seemed able to do it all.

The longer Kudou listened to whatever it was his boyfriend was saying, the redder his cheeks became. Finally, he slammed his cell phone shut and glared at it, grumbling under his breath. For the following five minutes, he proceeded to sulk while organizing the documents he would need for his meeting.

And then the window opened.

"I don't have to accept the part if you don't want me to," Kuroba said. "They asked me because the original actor caught a cold and he had a lot of lines."

Shinichi mumbled something, folded his arms and looked away.

"Or I could ask Tina if you could have her role," the magician offered, the corner of his mouth quirking upward. "She's quite fond of us."

"I hate acting."

"I know. That's why I didn't mention it before."

Shinichi sighed and shook his head, moving to pick up his bag. "Forget it. I'm being stupid."

"Not at all." Kuroba caught his hand and brushed a kiss across the back of it. "Although it wounds me that you can still doubt me after all this time."

"What? No! I didn't say that. It just—caught me off guard is all. I didn't know they were putting on a romance this year..."

He trailed off, blushing at remembered words murmured across a phone line.

"I've got to go," he said quickly, grabbing his bag and making a hasty retreat. "I don't want to be late."

"I'll pick you up from the station later."

"Okay. Oh, and could you swing by Ran's for me? She said she had some books for me."

"Sure, will do."

And the room drifted back into peaceful silence, only this time, it was the silence of having only one person left in it.

.

"Hey Naomi, so how did your exams go?"

"Ugh, let's not talk about exams. I'm just glad they're all over."

She stretched then let her arms drop to her sides as she looked up at his dormitory building.

"Can I come up and see your room?"

"Sure, if you want to, but there isn't really anything to see. It's just a normal room."

She looked mildly disappointed and Itsuki raised his eyebrows.

"What are you expecting?"

"Oh, I don't know. You're rooming with a super famous detective. I just thought there would be something more unusual about it—you know, like some sign of how many cases he's solved."

"Well, you're going to be really disappointed then."

He fished through his pockets for his key as they approached the room, but found that the door was unlocked.

"Oh, Kudou-kun, you're back. Naomi and I were just heading out for a bite to eat. Would you like to join us?"
The detective looked up from where he was sitting cross-legged on his bed, puzzling over a piece of paper. "Hey Aida-san, and that's all right. Kaito and I are going somewhere for dinner."

"Oh, okay, that's cool. Where are you guys going?"

"I'll let you know as soon as I figure it out."

"Huh?"

In answer, Shinichi held up the paper for him to see. It was covered in words and odd markings. Itsuki read through the message once then a second time, and then he frowned.

"I don't get it."

"It's a riddle," the detective explained, tapping the back of his pen against his chin and returning to his contemplations.

"You mean you've got to solve it or you won't know where he's taking you?"

"Something like that, yeah."

"Isn't that... kind of a lot of trouble?"

Blue eyes blinked and refocused on him in surprise. "Not really. I like riddles, and Kaito's really good at making them. And if I don't figure it out in time, it just means that the location remains a surprise."

"Right," Itsuki said weakly. He was starting to think that Kuroba Kaito wasn't the only one who was insane around here. "I'm heading out then. See you later."

"Later."

Itsuki retrieved his jacket from the back of his chair and rejoined Naomi, who had lingered out in the hallway to listen to their conversation.

"What's the matter? I thought you wanted to meet him."

"Maybe another time. It sounds like he's busy."

Although despite what she said, she continued to cast curious glances back over her shoulder the entire way down to his car.

.

When Itsuki woke up the day before Christmas Eve, he thought for one wild moment that he must have been abducted and moved to some stranger's house. Upon closer inspection, this proved to be untrue, but he couldn't really be blamed for his initial reaction.

Sometime during the night, someone—and he was pretty sure he knew who—had completely redecorated the room. How he could have not heard someone rearranging the furniture and bringing in a small evergreen, Itsuki had no idea, but he had no choice but to believe the evidence of his own eyes. Tiny Christmas lights had been strung up along the edges of the walls and the ceiling overhead was a forest of paper snowflakes. The small Christmas tree even had fake snow dusting its branches and a handful of presents beneath its boughs.

Kuroba was sitting on Shinichi's bed, reading a book while he waited for the detective to wake up. He was holding the book upside down, but Itsuki knew better by now than to assume that he wasn't actually reading it. In fact, chances were high that he was.

"Good morning, Aida-san."

"Uh, good morning." Itsuki sat up and took in the faint patterning of snowflakes on the wall and the reindeer by the door. "This might be a strange question, but do you ever sleep?"

"Of course I do. I just don't need as much of it as most people."

"Ah."

At least that explained how Kuroba could find the time to do all the things he did.

"Aren't you two going to go home for Christmas?"

Kuroba shrugged, absently running his fingers through Shinichi's hair. "Probably not. Shin-chan's parents are in New York and my mother's not going to be back from Paris until the week after next. We might take a trip to Osaka, but other than that, it's going to be campus for us."

"Oh, I see."

The magician lifted an eyebrow. "Why the long face?"

"It just—seems a bit sad. I mean, I always thought holidays were times for family."

"It's not like we're going to be alone," Kuroba pointed out. "There's no need for you to over-think these things. As you said, it's the holidays. We should all work hard to have fun."

"There's something inherently wrong about that statement," Shinichi's voice mumbled into his pillow. With a small groan of protest at being awake at all, he sat up and combed his fingers through his disheveled hair.

Kaito reached into a bag next to him and handed him a coffee cup. Shinichi accepted it with a soft thanks, took a gulp of the warm liquid then paused. He blinked a couple times, lowered the cup, and looked at Kuroba.

"You got this from Tsuzuki's?"

"First cup they made today."

"But they're halfway across the city!"

"You did say their coffee was the best." Leaning in, the magician pressed a quick kiss to his lips then hopped off the bed and snagged his coat from the back of the chair. "And now that you're awake, I have a few calls to make and we'll be off."

"I suppose there's no point in asking where to."

"None at all. But make sure you dress warm. I'll wait for you in the parking lot."

And he vanished in a puff of festive red and green smoke.

The detective remained seated for awhile longer, holding the coffee cup in both hands and looking fondly at something on his desk. Then he finished his drink, removed a wrapped parcel from his backpack to add to the collection under the tree, and prepared to leave.

After he bid Itsuki a polite farewell and shut the door behind him, Itsuki moved around the desk to see what his roommate had been looking at.

It turned out to be a photograph. It looked like it had been taken during the spring when the cherry trees were in bloom. Kuroba was standing with his arms around Shinichi's waist, and both of them were smiling. They looked so happy, so normal.

He shook his head, smiling a little as he went about packing for his own trip back home for the holidays. In the end, it seemed that even famous detectives and genius magicians were just regular human beings. Two people who cared quite a lot for one another and had their own unique ways of showing it.

.

"So you're not going to move in with your aunt after all?"

"Nope."

"She did offer again, didn't she?"

"Yeah."

Naomi shook her head, pulling out the chair next to his in the dining hall. "How come he's eating breakfast over there all by himself?"

"When Kuroba doesn't call or show up in person for awhile, Kudou starts to get real anxious. He's not really good company when he's anxious. It's better just to leave him alone. It makes me wonder sometimes what they've been through."

"Kuroba's not a detective."

"No, but he helps the police out quite a bit from what I hear. Sometimes, when he breaks into our room at night, I feel like I can see something dark in his face... I don't know how to describe it, and I guess it's probably better not to ask. I'm sure he knows just as much as Kudou-kun about crime and criminals."

"They're an odd duo, that's for sure."

"They're kind of weird," he agreed, "but that makes them fun to be around. You never know what's going to happen."

"I could have sworn that was what was stressing you out before."

He laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess it was, wasn't it?"

.

"Oh, Aida-kun," Shinichi greeted him when he took the seat beside him in their shared psychology class partway into their second semester. "I've been meaning to talk to you. Have you found a place to stay for next year yet?"

Itsuki shook his head. "I haven't really had the time."

"In that case, Kaito and I found an apartment just a block from campus for next year, but they want to rent to four students. Hakuba's already told us that he wants one of the spots, and we were wondering if you might want the last one. If you're interested, I can give you the address and you can let us know for sure after you've had a look at the premises."

Half a year ago, Itsuki might have hesitated. But as things were, he just flipped open his notebook and reached into his backpack for a pen.

"Sure, why not?"

END

AN: Happy New Year:)

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