I'm so sorry that I haven't posted anything in a million years; I've been incredibly busy with real life. Here, have some terrible proposal fluff to make up for it.

Warnings include shounen-ai, grammar mistakes / general errors, unhealthy amounts of sap, Kaito being embarrassing, Shinichi being stupid, etc. Title from SafetySuit's song of the same name, because the wedding version of that song is basically this fic.

Enjoy! - Luna

Never Stop

Kaito asked out Shinichi out with crooked skywriting and a (surprisingly tolerable, if Kaito says so himself) serenade underneath Shinichi's bedroom window. At the time, Shinichi made a lot of noise about "being too showy" and "making a spectacle out of our relationship" and "we're on the front cover of eighteen tabloids, Kaito." But both of them know he still has pictures of Kaito's slanted WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME, TANTEI-KUN saved on his phone, and every time "Fools Rush In" comes on in public, Shinichi gets the sort of look in his eyes that makes Kaito so, so glad that he'd bothered to memorize the lyrics and strong-arm Aoko into a singing lesson all those years ago.

For their first anniversary, Kaito bought a fondue machine and eight different kinds of chocolate, and Shinichi made a point to fondue a raw onion with gourmet 82% cacao chocolate, because he lived to be contrary. Kaito wasn't too bothered, though, and by the end of the night, he found a better use for the chocolate, anyway. Shinichi smelled like white chocolate for days after.

For their second anniversary, Kaito rented an island, and they successfully got sand in a lot of uncomfortable places over the course of a week, interspersed with periods of time during which Shinichi looking wistfully off into the distance, probably thinking about all the murder he was missing, while Kaito tried (and failed) to teach himself to surf. The tabloids ran articles about their "steamy honeymoon?!" for weeks.

After that, the anniversaries got a little blurry. Kaito thinks he once got Shinichi a first-edition copy of A Study in Scarlet that Shinichi refused to put down for an entire two days, and then there was another time that he got a park named after Shinichi (Kudou Park is across the street from Teitan Elementary, and Kaito likes to visit when he has time, mostly so he can smile stupidly at the DEDICATED TO KUDOU SHINICHI WITH LOVE plaque at the entrance). Kaito has probably done something with fireworks at least twice.

And that's just anniversaries, without all the birthdays, Christmases, Valentine's Days, and other miscellaneous holidays over the past eight years factored in, not to mention all the major events they've celebrated together (Kaito being named Magician of the Year, Shinichi getting promoted to inspector, etc.). At this point, Kaito has used every trick in the book and then invented more when he ran out. Kaito has scoured the bowels of the internet for inspiration. Kaito has gone through every item in his mental list of Ways to Make a Grand, Sweeping Gesture That Will End Up on the Cover of Every Tabloid for the Next Ten Weeks.

Kaito realizes, with dawning horror, that he has no idea how he's going to propose to Shinichi.

It's been an impulse that flares occasionally at the back of Kaito's mind, growing a little more insistent every time Shinichi kisses Kaito absently on the corner of the mouth on his way out the door or makes snarky comments about Kaito's choice of reading material (apparently he doesn't approve of Kaito's Kid x Kudou doujinshi collection) or smiles, fond and sleepy and trusting, when he finds Kaito turning on the coffeemaker in the morning or laughs at Kaito's jokes or – or exists, really. The longer Kaito thinks about it, the better an idea it seems. After all, it's not as if marriage would really change their relationship in any way other than the acquisition of matching rings and exchanged last names, but it's the thought that counts, really, the thought that they could belong to each other in a public way, in an undeniable, absolute way beyond a shadow of doubt.

Also Aoko keeps leaving unsubtle wedding catalogues in their mailbox with threats not to stop until he proposes, and Kaito is starting to see princess-cut diamonds and lace-detailed bodices in his nightmares, so there's that, too.

But then he runs into a problem. Because how is he going to propose to Shinichi? There's no way he can top anything he's done in the past, and this is probably the most important thing he'll ever do in his life. And he has to do some kind of grand, sweeping gesture, because –

"Saguru's proposal was so beautiful," Aoko sighs for, like, the eight millionth time. She waves her left hand in a pseudo-casual way that ensures the twelve-carat diamond on her ring finger refracts light directly into Kaito's eyes. "Did I mention the swans?"

"Only fifteen times," Kaito says sulkily, pinching the bridge of his nose. Aoko laughs as if he's joking (he's really not) before her eyes go glazed in a way that makes Kaito shudder, because he knows she's thinking about Hakuba and his stupid swan-filled, philharmonic-orchestra-accompanied, mid-May gazebo proposal.

Aoko emerges from her mental reliving of the proposal to give Kaito a patronizing smile. "You can't complain about Saguru's proposal when you haven't even thought about how you're going to propose to Kudou-kun," she informs him smugly, taking a sip of her pretentiously unsweetened iced tea and pursing her lips. "Once you stop screwing around and actually make an effort to settle down with Kudou-kun, then we'll talk."

"Actually," Kaito begins, very carefully, and that's enough for Aoko to go into Rabid Dog with a Bone mode. There's an unholy light in her eyes as she practically flings herself across the table at him. Kaito surreptitiously scoots his chair backwards.

"Explain," she demands, almost overturning her cup of tea with her elbow as she claws at him. Her eyes are narrowed with suspicion. "Are you telling me that I'll finally be able to cancel my subscription to Tulle and Tulips?"

"I don't even like Tulle and Tulips," says Kaito evasively. "Wedding Bells has better flower arrangements."

"Kaito," Aoko hisses, "are you going to propose?"

Kaito wipes at his forehead. "To whom?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the guy you've been dating for the past eight years," Aoko snaps. Her eyes are narrowed suspiciously at him. "Are you serious? Are you finally going to propose to Kudou-kun?" She goes terrifyingly misty-eyed. "Will Kudou-kun finally be my brother-in-law?"

"We're not related," Kaito protests, horrified. "Because that would make Hakuba my future-brother-in-law. And the day Hakuba becomes my brother-in-law is the day I cliff-dive into a pond full of piranhas."

"Well, then, you've only got a month left to live," Aoko shrugs before her eyes go soft and serious. "But really, Kaito. You're going to propose?"

"I want to," Kaito mumbles, looking away. "But, like… I don't know how."

Aoko stares at him for a long moment before she throws herself back into her chair, sighing. "Of all the reasons why you wouldn't propose to the person we're all pretty sure either has to be your soulmate or certifiably insane, considering that he actively puts up with you in a romantic context" – Kaito makes a wounded noise, but Aoko goes on without pausing – "not knowing 'how to propose' is, like, the worst excuse." She gives him a look that would melt steel. "The worst excuse."

"No, it's just – I have to make it special, right?" Kaito insists, running a hand through his hair. "I always do big gestures for Shinichi. Because he deserves them. But now – I don't have any left. I've literally done everything I could think of already."

One of Aoko's eyebrows crawls upwards. "I find that hard to believe."

Kaito sighs. "Aoko, for our last anniversary, I bought him a two-story mansion."

"You –" Aoko goggles. "Why would you do that? He already has a mansion. You live in that mansion. It's a really nice mansion."

"Yeah, well, the mansion I bought him is our summer house in Karuizawa. We visit in July to play tennis and go hiking. The weather's great. That's not the point." Kaito waves her off. "The point is that I've done everything for Shinichi at least once."

Aoko eyes him with suspicion. "Fireworks? Candlelit dinner? Live band?"

"Twice for fireworks, ten times for candlelit dinners, and once for the live band." Kaito rubs his face, feeling a groan building up in his chest. He catches Aoko's eye – she's about to open her mouth – and adds, "We've gone on tropical getaways four times, visited London twice, and there's at least one blimp out there that has Shinichi's name on it."

"Flash mob?" Aoko tries weakly. Kaito just gives her a look.

"Twice."

"Okay," Aoko admits after a minute of contemplative silence. "Yeah, you're pretty much screwed."

When Kaito gets home half an hour later, plodding into the kitchen as he pulls off his jacket, he finds Shinichi stirring a pot of something, staring contemplatively into its depths. Shinichi has definitely gotten better at cooking – he's graduated from "burns everything, including water and air" to "can produce mostly palatable results." He's currently wearing a frilly pink apron (origins unknown, though Kaito suspects Hattori) over one of Kaito's t-shirts, and his hair is flat on one side in a way that means he fell asleep on a case file.

"What's cooking, good looking?" Kaito drawls, leaning against the doorframe to properly enjoy the resigned stare Shinichi sends him before he reaches down to click off the burner.

"You're not getting any of this curry," he informs Kaito, even as he gets out two place settings from the overhead cabinet. The settings were a housewarming gift from Ran, and all of the plates have little dancing cats painted on them. Shinichi secretly loves them, even if he'll never admit it.

"I guess I'll have to survive on just your sweet, sweet love," Kaito sighs, dramatic, and Shinichi winds up like a baseball pitcher before he hurls a rice paddle at Kaito's head. If Kaito didn't have the reflexes he does, he probably would've lost an ear. As it is, his palm stings from the impact. He gives Shinichi a wounded look.

"There's rice in the rice cooker," announces Shinichi, completely ignoring him as he digs around for a ladle. "Mind getting us some?"

With a long-suffering sigh, Kaito edges around him (he takes the chance to grope subtly at Shinichi's waist; Shinichi smacks him on the head with the ladle without even blinking) to get to the rice cooker. "One day you're going to take out my eye," he remarks as he scoops rice onto a plate, "and then you'll be sorry."

"That would be a shame," Shinichi says dryly, taking the plate from him and adding curry over the rice. "I do so love your eyes." He takes the second plate from Kaito, drizzles curry on it, kisses Kaito on the check, and departs for the dining room. Kaito melts a little.

He's got to find a way to propose.

When Aoko and Hakuba first announced that they were getting married, Kaito was mainly smugly satisfied at the thought that he would get to be her maid of honor (man of honor?). He deserves it, after putting up with her and her pining for so many years. And – bonus – Shinichi is Hakuba's best man. It's basically the perfect setup.

He didn't take into account that Aoko would force him to go to all her wedding-related events, though.

"Aoko," he whines, ignoring the laserlike glare one of the salesclerks shoots at him, "why do we have to be here for your third fitting?" He's starting to get uncomfortably familiar with this particular bridal shop. He swears that every time he walks in, the salespeople play rock-paper-scissors to see who has to deal with him this time.

"Because you're in my bridal party," Aoko reminds him, a slightly vindictive look in her eyes as she allows a saleswoman to pin the bodice of her dress tighter around her stomach. Kaito has a theory that she's been deliberately losing weight just so he has to come to more fittings.

Mari, one of Aoko's bridesmaids – Kaito thinks that she and Aoko go to the same yoga class – laughs and pats him on the shoulder. She has bleached blonde hair and a septum piercing that Kaito privately and ashamedly thinks makes her look like a bull. "Regretting your decision to be her maid of honor yet, Kuroba-kun?"

"Nope," Kaito insists, and then deflates when one of the saleswomen trills, "Adjusting the train will take another twenty minutes!" He sighs. "Maybe. Shut up."

Mari laughs uproariously. She sets her hand in the crook of Kaito's elbow, leaning in with a grin. She has lipstick on her front teeth. Kaito looks away politely, pretending not to notice. "So how's everything with that boyfriend of yours?"

"Really good," Kaito says sadly. Just this morning, he woke up to find Shinichi half-lying in a chair at the kitchen table with Kaito's doves sitting on him, feeding them cracked corn and yawning as they hopped all over his shoulders and head with little cheeps.

For a second, Mari's smile wavers, but then it's back in full force. "If everything's good, then why do you sound so depressed?"

"I'm trying to figure out a way to propose to him," Kaito tells her, rubbing at the back of his nick. "I don't know how to, though. I have to do some kind of grand gesture."

"Oh." Mari gets an uncomfortable look on her face. When her grin returns, it's a little forced. Kaito lifts an eyebrow. "What about – uh, like, fireworks, or something?"

"Done that," says Kaito, a little sulkily. He exhales, watching Aoko ask a salesclerk to shorten the train of her dress for the fourth time. "We've been together so long that I've done everything at least once. Maybe twice." He frowns. "Possibly three times."

"Isn't that a sign that maybe things are getting boring?" Mari asks – purrs (?). Her voice goes oddly low as she looks up at him through her eyelashes. Kaito notices, in a distantly embarrassed sort of way, that the wings of her eyeliner are kind of uneven. "Maybe your relationship is getting too, you know… monotonous."

Kaito stares at her as if she's abruptly switched to Hungarian. He opens his mouth, about to ask what she's trying to imply (he's genuinely concerned, because if she's trying to imply that Shinichi is boring, she may actually need medical help) when the bell over the door jingles and he glances reflexively over his shoulder to see Shinichi hovering awkwardly in the doorway, holding a takeout cup and looking shifty. Kaito can't stop the grin that overtakes his face.

"Shinichi!" he calls, and Shinichi startles before his gaze slides towards them. Kaito waves – or, well, he tries to, because he kind of forgot that Mari was holding onto his arm and he accidentally smacks her in the face when he goes to wave. He winces. "Shit, sorry, Mari, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Mari gets out, clutching at her nose. "I'm just gonna –" She makes an abortive motion towards the bathroom and flees. Kaito watches her go, wincing. He might have to buy her coffee or something.

"Hey," Shinichi says when he's within hearing distance. He hands Kaito the cup, and Kaito takes an enthusiastic sip. It's royal milk tea, which is maybe his third favorite thing in the known world, right after Shinichi and magic. But when Kaito moves to kiss Shinichi, he finds that Shinichi is staring after Mari with a furrowed brow.

"Uh, is she okay?" he asks when Kaito makes a frustrated sound.

"Yeah, she's fine, I didn't hit her that hard, pay attention to me," Kaito complains, tugging at Shinichi's sleeve, and Shinichi gets a resigned, indulgent look on his face as he leans in to give Kaito a kiss on the corner of the mouth. Kaito hums complacently, resisting the urge to rub his face all over Shinichi. He's pretty sure the tight-lipped salesclerk skulking behind a veil display would actually stab him if he did that. He settles for wrapping an arm around Shinichi's waist.

"What brought this on?" he asks, gesturing at the cup. Shinichi flushes a little.

"I heard that you were back at the bridal shop because Nakamori-san needed another fitting, and I was in the area," he lies, very transparently. There's no reason Shinichi would be all the way out here in Ekoda, not unless there was a case, and if there was a case, he wouldn't leave the crime scene to bring Kaito tea.

"Aw, babe, you're so sweet," Kaito grins. He can't help but fit his mouth to the curve of Shinichi's neck, just to feel Shinichi's pulse jump even as he hisses, scandalized, "Kaito, we're in public!"

Unsurprisingly, they get kicked out of the shop with orders not to come back. Aoko shouts at him over the phone for a while before she gets bored and hangs up. Shinichi makes several annoyed sounds about his being "inappropriately affectionate" in public and needing to "restrain himself more, honestly, stop, it's embarrassing when things like this happen." Kaito couldn't care less, mainly because Shinichi still lets him hold his hand on the way home. As they wait for a light to change at an intersection, Kaito glances down at Shinichi's hand, and for a split-second, he imagines a ring – his ring – on Shinichi's fourth finger. The thought is equal parts exhilarating and sobering.

Kaito glares down at open note on his phone, rubbing his temple. He's typed out a few ideas (skydiving? cake? a two-hour stage play?), but he's also crossed them all out, because none of them are right. None of them are good enough. None of them are The Exact Way he wants to propose.

Not for the first time in the last ten minutes, he heaves a sigh and leans back in the chair. If he focuses enough, he can hear the sounds of cicadas outside the window. According to the clock hanging above the kitchen table, it's half past one in the morning. Kaito's eyes feel like overworked clay, sticky and slow as he blinks.

With a sigh, Kaito looks back down at the screen of his phone, which has gone dark in the interim, and thumbs the lockscreen open. He's halfway to googling "romantic proposal ideas?" when there's the sound of shuffling footsteps in the hall.

"Kaito? What are you doing?" Kaito turns to see Shinichi propped up in the doorway, looking half-awake. He's dragged the comforter off their bed – it's unclear if he did it on purpose – and he's got it twisted unevenly around his shoulders, like the world's longest cape. His eyes are barely open; Kaito can barely make out his irises behind the dark netting of his eyelashes.

"Nothing," Kaito says hastily, dropping his phone back into his pocket and getting to his feet. He crosses the room in three strides and ducks to kiss Shinichi lightly on the mouth. "It's nothing, darling."

Shinichi gets a suspicious look on his face, a look that usually precedes scouring a crime scene for the one cotton thread that proves the murderer is the butler, and Kaito attempts to head him off by picking him up and throwing him over his shoulder. Shinichi, predictably, begins to squawk with indignation, abruptly wide awake as he manages to knee Kaito in the lower stomach, three inches away from a place Kaito would very much like to keep un-kneed.

"Careful with the goods," he wheezes as he hits the light switch and starts to fumble his way back to their bedroom. He nearly trips on a trailing corner of comforter when Shinichi pinches the back of his neck. "Shinichi!"

"Your own fault," Shinichi announces, unrepentant, and Kaito retaliates by turning his face into Shinichi's ribcage and biting him. Shinichi squeaks, squirming, before he sucks sharply at the side of Kaito's neck. Kaito shudders, nearly dropping him, and, well, things devolve from there. At least they have a blanket to put down first.

The first time Kaito met Hattori, Hattori took one look at him before he turned to Shinichi and said, loudly, "Kudou, you could do way better." Needless to say, Kaito harbors a healthy amount of dislike for him.

(Even though Kaito's come to realize that Hattori wasn't wrong – Shinichi can do much better than Kaito; there's at least one supermodel/actress/singer who's still holding out hope that Shinichi will leave Kaito for her – but for whatever reason, Shinichi seems to be under the impression that he's gotten the better deal.)

Right now, Kaito's sprawled across the couch, tie partway undone and eyes half-lidded, as Shinichi flutters around in search of his jacket and Hattori sits on the kitchen counter, swinging his feet idly. Kaito's not entirely clear on why Hattori is here – he thinks it has something to do with the case that Shinichi is working – but he doesn't like it. Mainly because it means Kaito has to go out to dinner with Hattori and Shinichi and suffer through three hours of death-related conversation, otherwise Shinichi will give him the silent treatment and leave passive-aggressive post-it notes all around the house for at least a week.

"How was the show?" Hattori asks when he apparently decides that the silence has reached maximum awkwardness.

"It was fine," Kaito says blandly, staring up at the ceiling. He can practically feel Hattori's irritation gathering steam in the corner. When Hattori speaks next, his voice is manufactured and sweet.

"So I hear you've got a new girl," he chirps.

Kaito actually sits up to properly convince his skepticism via judgily raised eyebrows. "From where? A tabloid?" The tabloids do have a weird obsession with Kaito and Shinichi, actually. He can't tell if they want them to stay together until the end of time or to have a spectacularly public break up and appear on separate talk shows to cry dramatically and throw things.

Hattori rolls his eyes. "I heard from Kudou, you asshat."

Kaito takes a second to mouth asshat in condescending disbelief before he gives Hattori an unimpressed look. "As if. You know I'd never cheat on Shinichi."

"Does he know that," Hattori mutters. Kaito squints at him, but Hattori just looks pointedly at the opposite wall.

With a sigh, Kaito lets himself collapse back on the couch. Somewhere upstairs, Shinichi drops something that makes a loud clunking noise and swears loudly. Kaito fervently hopes he hasn't knocked over the lamp on their nightstand yet again. Glue can only do so much.

It occurs to Kaito, after a moment, that this is the perfect opportunity to ask Hattori for ideas. Not that he thinks Hattori can actually be romantic – he proposed to Kazuha via text, like the embarrassingly emotionally stunted person he is – but because he's Shinichi's best friend and therefore should know Shinichi as well as Kaito does.

"So, Hattori," Kaito begins, carefully, "do you have any ideas about how, theoretically, one might… surprise someone? Make a big romantic gesture?"

"Kudou doesn't care about your big gestures," Hattori informs him, bashing a heel against the counter. Kaito glares at him. "He always calls me to complain about how you always go overboard. That time you bought him a yacht, he called me and screamed into the phone for two minutes straight. Without pausing to breathe."

"This is – different," Kaito grumbles. He's a little scared that Hattori's not joking. "Whatever I end up doing has to be really impressive." When Hattori remains unmoved, Kaito rolls his eyes. "It's not about what you think it is. I have to make an – an impression."

Hattori's eyebrows jerk upwards, and he starts to get a pinched expression on his face (after some thought, Kaito recognizes it as his someone is threatening Kazuha or Kudou and therefore must die face, and wonders why he's wearing it), but before he can say anything, Shinichi pops his head in. He's wearing the cashmere cardigan that Kaito had gotten for him two Christmases ago (in addition to a timeshare at the New Miyako Hotel in Kyoto) and he looks a little flustered. Kaito can see that he most likely did knock over the lamp again, judging from the guilty way he brushes porcelain dust off his sleeves.

"Ready to go?" he asks, smiling a little sheepishly, and Kaito's on his feet in two seconds flat. He's grinning dopily and he knows Hattori is eyeing him with something like annoyance, but he can't help it. God, he loves this man.

"Yeah, let's go," Kaito says, wrapping an arm around Shinichi's waist and herding him towards the door. He ignores Hattori's squawk of indignation and the way Shinichi, mock-resigned, nudges him with his elbow and sighs, "We can't just leave Hattori alone in our house, you know."

At some point, Kaito comes to the revelation that no matter how he ends up proposing, he's going to need an engagement ring of some kind. And it's going to have to be the Best Ring Ever, because, with any luck, Shinichi is going to wear it. It's going to be Kaito's declaration to the world that Shinichi's taken, that he's off the market, sorry not sorry to the eight million people in the world who want him. It's going to be Kaito's ring on Shinichi's finger.

Needless to say, Kaito panics, which is his excuse for why he drags Hakuba out to a jewelry store on a Friday night.

Hakuba, predictably, is grumpy about it. He's wearing a surly look on his face as he stomps past Kaito into the store. "Can't believe you dragged me out of the house for something as asinine as this," he sniffs, trying (in vain) to close the door on Kaito's foot. "I could've been at home, with my fiancé, enjoying the evening –"

"First of all, getting a ring for Shinichi is not asinine, screw you very much," Kaito says, rolling his eyes. "Second of all, I know for a fact that Aoko is on one of her monogrammed dishcloth kicks right now, so you should be thankful that I gave you a valid reason to get out of the house."

"Hmph," is all Hakuba says as he stalks towards the ring display, which Kaito interprets as, "Yes, Kuroba-kun, you are entirely right, but my enormous ego and the stick up my ass refuse to let me acknowledge that."

The ring selection is literally dazzling, ruler-straight lines of sparkling diamonds staring up out of the glass in soldierly formations. Kaito shields his eyes with one hand, squinting down at them. A lot of them are the stereotypical engagement ring, with bulky jewels and delicate white-gold bands. Kaito wrinkles his nose. He can't imagine Shinichi wearing any of these. He has a horrifying mental image of Shinichi bent over a corpse and accidentally dropping the ring into a puddle of blood.

"I don't think Kudou-kun would like any of these," Hakuba remarks, the epitome of unhelpfulness. Kaito gives him a look.

"Thanks."

A bright-eyed salesgirl sidles up to them, smiling widely. "Can I help you, gentlemen?"

"That would be great," says Kaito with relief. He leans in conspiringly. "I'm actually looking for an engagement ring for my boyfriend of eight years."

"Oh!" The girl's gaze slides to Hakuba, one of her eyebrows lifting as her smile turns suggestive, and Hakuba makes a sound like he's choking.

"I'm not his boyfriend," he grinds out, looking as if he's swallowed a cactus. "I have a fiancé waiting for me at home. A lovely, beautiful fiancé who is not this – this –" He makes a spluttery noise and buries his face in his hands.

"I'm feeling a little unappreciated, sweetheart," Kaito announces. Hakuba gives him a murderous look that blatantly advertises just how badly he wants to kneecap Kaito before he stomps towards the necklace section and attempts to pretend that he's not associated with Kaito. Kaito wonders what possessed him to bring Hakuba along, anyway.

The salesgirl titters, hand over her mouth, before she turns all business, motioning at the rings. "This is our selection of engagement rings. May I interest you in any of these?" Kaito must make some kind of face, because she frowns and glances down at the display case. "Is there something wrong with these?"

"No, no, it's just… He's not into flashy displays. He probably wouldn't wear anything too, uh… ostentatious," Kaito tells her, eyeing a ring set with a diamond bigger than his pinky.

"I see." The girl's expression turns contemplative. "In that case, we have a section of rings that feature smaller stones, if that would be preferable." Her gaze twitches towards a door marked EMPLOYEES ONLY. "Would you like me to bring it out for you?"

"That would be great," Kaito agrees and watches as she takes off for the backroom.

Hakuba finally deigns to drift back over to him. "Your phone's ringing," he informs Kaito when Kaito glares wordlessly at him, and Kaito jumps when he realizes Hakuba's right.

Reaching into his pocket, Kaito pulls out his phone to find that Shinichi is calling him. The picture he set as Shinichi's contact photo is one he took when they were sixteen and still dancing around each other, and it's a candid shot – Shinichi is angled partially away from him, and he's got a case file in his lap and a relaxed expression on his face. It's still one of Kaito's favorite pictures of him.

Grinning (and ignoring Hakuba's judgy, eyebrowy stare), Kaito picks up the phone. "Babydoll!" he croons in greeting. Hakuba gags audibly.

"I will pay you not to call me that every again," Shinichi says, sounding pained.

Kaito can't help but leer. "What'll you pay me in?" Hakuba begins to cough spectacularly.

Shinichi huffs out a groan that shudders down the line. "Not sexual favors, that's for sure."

"You're not fun at all, sugarplum," Kaito sighs before he leans against the counter, cupping his hands protectively around his phone. "Did you need anything?"

"What, I can't call you just to hear your dulcet tones?" Shinichi asks wryly, but there's a hint of truth in the way his voice goes self-conscious around the last few syllables. Kaito can't help but smile fondly.

"I always knew you were sweet on me," he grins, and Shinichi just makes a derisive noise that means he doesn't want to acknowledge that Kaito's right (Kaito calls it his Unwilling Acceptance of the Facts Sound #2). "How's everything at home?"

"Quiet. A little boring without you," Shinichi tells him in an uncharacteristic moment of candidness. "I made yakisoba. Hope you're hungry. Hey, where are you, by the way? I know you don't have a show tonight."

"Uh –" Kaito chokes a little, breaking into a theatrical coughing fit in order to buy time. "I –" He clears his throat. He can't very well say he's in a jewelry store looking for an engagement ring for Shinichi, can he? "I'm… out."

"Yes, I surmised as much from your absence," says Shinichi, snarky. There's a creeping, slightly suspicious note to his voice. "Kaito, you know, lately you've been –"

Kaito would love to know what he's been like lately, but it's at that moment that the salesgirl reappears from the bowels of the storage, brandishing a few trays of rings and calling, "Hey, I found the rings," and Kaito freaks out, stammers, "HeyIgottagoI'llbehomesoonsorrybabe," hangs up on Shinichi's confused "Wait, what?" and fumbles his phone into his pocket.

There's an awkward silence. The salesgirl looks incredibly unimpressed, as does Hakuba.

"That was the least subtle thing I've ever seen you do," Hakuba remarks. "And I was there that time when you sailed a blimp with Kudou-kun's name on it across Tokyo."

"Shut up." Kaito flushes before he turns his attention to the salesclerk. "Show me the rings." She lifts her eyebrows at him, but she does push the velvet-lined trays towards him.

In the end, Kaito picks a ring with a twisted white-gold band set with a delicate dewdrop of a diamond. Hakuba doesn't make any comments about it, which Kaito takes as implicit approval, and Kaito has a thirty-second fantasy of Shinichi wearing it to work, to Kaito's shows, everywhere. Basically, it's The Perfect Ring.

The ring is heavy in Kaito's pocket when he finally gets home, toeing off his shoes before he goes in search of Shinichi. Shinichi is sitting at the kitchen table, scrawling something on a case report in black ballpoint pen, and he looks up when Kaito comes in. His eyes instantly narrow.

"Hi, sweet pea," Kaito tries. He crosses the room to kiss Shinichi softly on the mouth. Shinichi tastes like toothpaste and palpable irritation that melts away like snow in April when Kaito runs a hand through the soft unruliness of his just-washed hair.

"Don't think you're off the hook," grumbles Shinichi. "You still owe me an explanation." There's something a little fragile about the way he looks imploringly at Kaito, and Kaito smiles and presses a kiss to his hairline.

"You'll get one eventually," he promises. Shinichi harrumphs and pointedly goes back to marking up the forensics report.

Kaito, as the reigning Magician of the Year for two years in a row, never fails to sell out a show. Shinichi, as Kaito's reigning ladylove –

("Don't call me that, what is this, some kind of 1900s romance novel," Shinichi said, horrified, the last time Kaito called him that, but Kaito knows he doesn't really mind.)

– never fails to show up for his shows, unless there's a murder emergency or something at work. The ticket office knows not to sell the center seat of the first row, no matter how much someone offers to pay, and the stage crew knows Shinichi as well as they know Kaito. Kaito once found Shinichi fanboying about Sherlock Holmes with one of the stagehands (it was adorable, and Kaito spent most of the week teasing both of them). And Shinichi knows at least half of every trick in Kaito's repertoire (never the entirety of any one trick; Kaito's a magician, after all), so he's always helpful with setup. Kaito's especially excited about this week's show in particular: Shinichi helped him come up with a new trick that involved burning flower petals and color-changing ink and it's going to be incredible.

Thirty minutes before this week's show is scheduled to start, Kaito's fresh out of hair and makeup, foundation tacky on his cheeks and hair pomaded into a veritable helmet around his skull, and he ends up wandering around the theater until he spots Shinichi milling around the front row, talking to someone and wearing his Polite Social Interaction face. He's put on a nice suit jacket for the occasion, even though his hair is sticking up in the back, undoubtedly left untouched since this morning, and he's got ink stains on the sides of his hands, which mean that he probably spent the afternoon filling out case reports.

Kaito sidles up and manages to fit Shinichi into the crook of his elbow before Shinichi notices. When Shinichi starts, turning to give him a Do We Have to Go Over My Code of Public Displays of Affection Look, he drawls, "Hey there, honeybun," and watches delightedly as Shinichi flushes, color all across his cheekbones.

"Kaito," Shinichi hisses. Kaito notes that he doesn't bother trying to pull away, even as he motions at the person he's talking to.

"Shinichi," Kaito mimics, grinning, and Shinichi sighs and makes a blustery noise and doesn't try to break free of his hold. Kaito is very aware of how stupid his face must look right now, as he looks at Shinichi and marvels, but he's finding it difficult to care.

Someone clears their throat, and Kaito looks over to find that Mari, Aoko's friend, is standing there, watching them with an artificial smile plastered on her face. She's done her hair up in elaborate curls that remind Kaito of braided pastries, and she's wearing a dress in a pale powder blue that Kaito privately thinks would suit Shinichi much better. Still, she looks – cute, maybe, for a person who isn't Shinichi.

"Hi, Kuroba-kun!" she chirrups when Kaito levels a slightly inquisitive look at her. "I came to see your show!"

"Is that so?" Kaito smiles politely before he pulls a rose out of thin air and offers it to her. She flushes as she takes it, beaming up at him through her eyelashes. "Well, I hope you enjoy it, since you came all the way out here." He glances around. "Where's your seat, Mari?"

"Oh, uh, Aoko-chan said that I could take the one she usually uses?" Mari explains, batting her eyelashes hopefully, and Kaito frowns. Aoko hadn't told him that she'd be coming to this show in particular, so he's pretty sure the box office sold her seat already. Aoko doesn't come to every show – only about once per month – so unless she or Kaito himself calls ahead, her seat is generally taken by someone else.

"That may be a problem. I don't know if the office reserved a seat for her, and the rest of the seats are definitely sold out by now," Kaito admits after a long pause. Mari's face falls, and her mouth pulls tight at the corners. Kaito has the lurking suspicion that she may start crying, which is one of the most terrifying prospects he can imagine (partly because he thinks that introducing any hint of moisture to the makeup she's wearing will not end well for anyone). He casts a panicked look at Shinichi, who's got an eyebrow raised and an alarmingly aloof tilt to his mouth.

"You can take my seat," Shinichi announces calmly. When Kaito stares at him, equal parts horrified and confused, he shrugs, offering Mari a smile that goes nowhere near his eyes. "I've seen all of Kaito's shows, anyway."

"Oh, really? Thank you, Kudou-kun!" Mari clutches at her heart, grinning. Something feels a little off about the way she looks at Shinichi, though – if Kaito didn't know better, he'd think she was challenging him. "You're so…" Her smile sharpens. "Kind."

"Of course." Shinichi dips his head before he glances at Kaito. "I'll see you at home, Kaito."

"But – but –" Kaito gapes. "What about the flower petal trick? The one with the burning…?" Shinichi was the one who'd suggested that trick. Shinichi had helped him come up with a good quarter of the logistics. Shinichi wasn't going to stick around to see it?

There's something wrong with the way Shinichi laughs, the way he won't meet Kaito's eyes. "You'll be fine. You can show it to me at home if you really want, all right?" He pats Kaito on the forearm before he leans out of Kaito's grasp. "I think Nishimura-san deserves to see your show at least once." For a second, he looks as if he wants to kiss Kaito, a thought that makes Kaito a little breathless because Shinichi never initiates in public, but in the end, Shinichi just claps him on the shoulder before he turns and strides out of the theater. There's an angled fold along the back panel of his jacket, and his hair is curling at the nape.

"Shinichi?" Kaito calls after him, hopelessly bemused, but then Mari says tentatively, "Kuroba-kun, I think the show should be starting soon?" and Kaito gives up. He'll have to interrogate Shinichi at home.

In the end, the show turns out to be one of his worst (almost worse than the time the curtain caught on fire). Kaito keeps looking into the front row, expecting to see Shinichi feigning indifference at him even as his eyes give him away, and instead finding Mari watching with rapturous, hungry attention that sets him on edge.

When Kaito gets home, Shinichi is already asleep, dressed in an oversized t-shirt and sweatpants, and he makes little snuffling noises when Kaito slips in beside him. He latches onto Kaito immediately, though, his arms closing around Kaito and his head sliding in between Kaito's neck and shoulder as if he's being magnetically pulled, so Kaito decides that things can wait. They're still fine. This is nothing.

This is not nothing. This is undeniably something.

It starts out with small things. Kaito kisses Shinichi goodbye in the morning, and Shinichi sighs and pulls away a second too early. Kaito goes to bed and ends up waiting ten minutes longer than usual for Shinichi to slide in beside him. Kaito comes home to find that Shinichi ate dinner without him and retreated into the library to pore over some cold case files. Kaito asks Shinichi to help him design a trick and Shinichi makes excuses before he disappears out the door and doesn't get home until past eight.

Shinichi sometimes acts cold. Shinichi sometimes pretends that he doesn't care about Kaito. But Kaito knows Shinichi, and Shinichi is never like this. He'll push Kaito away in public, but he'll kiss Kaito everywhere when they're alone. He'll glare at Kaito when Kaito uses pet names on him, but it's mostly in a transparent bid to distract from the way he flushes.

The way Shinichi is acting right now is completely unprecedented.

Kaito can't deny that he's worried. Worried, concerned, and possibly a little terrified, because he has no idea what he did wrong, so how can he fix it?

Guiltily, though, he's glad for the extra alone time, because it's given him the opportunity to plan the proposal. He hasn't been Kid for going on four years now, ever since he dismantled Snake and his criminal organization, but he still has a suit lying around somewhere. He's thinking he'll have another heist, maybe convince Sonoko to let him host it on the boat where he first met Shinichi, and when Shinichi catches him, that's when Kaito will propose. It'll be romantic and sentimental and Shinichi will tell their future children about how much of a sap their father is and Kaito will laugh and call him snuggle bunny and kiss him on the cheek. It'll be perfect, basically.

The planning is going spectacularly – Kaito's got the first draft of the heist note done, and he's partway through wrangling Sonoko into submission (she's understandably suspicious of why Kaito wants to rent the specific yacht where the Black Star heist was held) – when he gets a call from Beika General Hospital, asking if he's Kuroba Kaito and is he aware that he's Kudou Shinichi's emergency contact? Yes, could he come in as soon as possible? Why? Because Shinichi's been stabbed.

Kaito experiences a panic so viscerally sharp he wonders, for half a second, if he's the one who's been stabbed.

He's not entirely sure how he gets to the hospital; he thinks he takes the subway, because he has a ticket stub in his hand as he stumbles into Beika General and nearly crashes into the receptionists' desk. The redheaded receptionist behind the desk manages to coax Shinichi's name out of him after a few minutes of awkward stuttering and her telling him to breathe, clinically calm and eyebrows raised.

"Kudou Shinichi is in room 205," she tells him and Kaito's off, gone, jabbing at the call button for the elevator, bouncing restlessly up and down, ignoring the way two nurses swerve around him and an elderly patient haltingly turns his wheelchair around and flees in the other direction. He's preoccupied with imagining every situation in which Shinichi couldn't been stabbed – God, what if he's been stabbed in the chest? The back? The stomach? The – the heart?

The elevator is too slow. Kaito thinks of seven different ways he could get to room 205.

By the time the elevator deposits Kaito on the second floor with an unimpressed chime and doors that slide open with rheumatic slowness, Kaito is kind of a mess. He skids down the hall, bangs shoulder-first into the closed door of room 204, apologizes to the startled doctor who had been about to go in, and throws the door to room 205 open, holding his breath all the while.

Shinichi is sitting on a bed, making periodic sulky noises as Hakuba and a white-clad nurse stand around him. The nurse is wrapping Shinichi's bicep and studiously ignoring the way Hakuba is shouting fiercely at Shinichi. She does look up when Kaito trips over himself in his haste to reach Shinichi.

"Shinichi," Kaito gasps when he manages to get his hands on Shinichi, who's warm and present and still breathing, which is the most important thing. Shinichi winces when Kaito wanders a little too close to the area that the nurse is bandaging, but he does reach up and briefly fit a hand around the curve of Kaito's neck before he drops it and looks away. Kaito feels an ice-water shock of confused hurt, but he pushes it down in favor of examining Shinichi from head to toe.

Hakuba, who'd gone quiet when Kaito had burst in, heaves a sigh of annoyance. He looks rumpled and unhappy, still a little red in the face. "I'm not done with you, Kudou-kun." The nurse ties off the bandage and flees, probably wisely.

"It's not a big deal," Shinichi mutters. There's apparently something very interesting about his shoes, because he's staring at his shoelaces so intently Kaito half-expects them to combust from the force of his gaze. "I was just a little… distracted."

"Oh really?" Hakuba laughs, disbelieving, eyebrows raised to nearly his hairline. "You were so distracted that you basically walked into a drug dealer holding a knife?" He presses his lips together, glancing at Kaito. "Kudou-kun, I think it's pretty obvious that you were more than a little distracted. We have a dangerous job. You have to know that you have to be mentally present at all times –"

"Okay, fine, whatever," Shinichi snaps before he pulls away from Kaito, glaring at Hakuba. He's still not looking at Kaito. "I get it. I messed up. I'm fine."

"What if he'd had a gun, Kudou-kun?" Hakuba retorts, looking honestly infuriated. "What if he'd gotten you in the chest? We would be in the ICU right now, and Kuroba-kun would probably stab me for not having your back."

"So this is suddenly about you now?" Shinichi deflects. His shoulders curl inwards, and he abruptly looks small and vulnerable, the stark white of the bandage bright against the ragged, darkly bloodstained sleeve of his shirt.

"No," Hakuba half-shouts before he checks that the hallway is mostly empty. "No," he reiterates, his voice lowering, "this is about the fact that you need to work out whatever's bothering you before you get yourself killed." With a last, significant look between Kaito and Shinichi, he storms out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

There's an awkward silence.

"Shinichi," Kaito says – and even he can hear the shudder in his voice – "is it true what he said? That you got hurt because you were… distracted?"

Shinichi swallows visibly. "Yeah," he croaks, clearing his throat. "I was – I was pretty distracted."

"Does this have something to do with how you've been freezing me out lately?" Kaito asks, trying to sound gentle and knowing that he misses by miles, and Shinichi's head jerks upwards. Their eyes meet for three quarters of a second before Shinichi's back to examining floor tiles with ridiculous intensity.

"No," he lies, badly.

Kaito groans. "Darling –"

"Don't call me that," Shinichi says sharply. And it's not the way he usually says it: not like a protest that double as permission, but like actual anger. Kaito stares, flummoxed, before he rubs a hand over his face.

"I think we need to talk about this," he announces. He's tired, drained of the adrenaline that got him here, and he's confused, and he just wants to hold Shinichi for the next ten hours, but Shinichi has a stubborn slant to his mouth that means he's likely to shiv Kaito if Kaito tries to touch him again.

"Probably," agrees Shinichi. He rubs at the back of his neck, clenches his jaw, and finally looks at Kaito before he says, quiet, "Do you want to break up?"

It feels as if someone's emptied a bucket of ice water over Kaito's head. A cold sweat breaks out across his skin, and he's rooted to the floor. Kaito's not sure what his face is doing, but he can barely get his too-big tongue to form a blank, "What?"

Shinichi looks pained. He presses his mouth into a line before he begins, slowly, "I know you… might not want to be with me anymore." When Kaito just looks at him uncomprehendingly, he sighs. "I know you'd never cheat on me" – and when did the topic of conversation turn to cheating, Kaito wonders blankly, as if from a distance – "but I would understand if you've, I don't know, gotten tired of me. We've been together a long time."

Kaito legitimately doesn't understand what's happening. "Wait, what? Are you tired of me?" he asks, bewildered, and Shinichi gives him a comfortingly judgy look.

"Of course not," he says, as if the thought of him tiring of Kaito is truly that ridiculous. "You're you."

"And you're you," Kaito counters, feeling a strange combination of desperate and desperately confused, and Shinichi winces, his mouth twitching at one corner. Kaito stares for a long minute before he rubs a hand through his hair, fingers getting caught in a tangle at the crown of his head.

"I don't think we're on the same page here, Shinichi."

"You can't think I'm that stupid," Shinichi says, disbelieving as he glances at Kaito. When Kaito just blinks, he groans, putting his face in his hands. There are shadows beneath his eyes that Kaito knows weren't there two weeks ago. "Come on, Kaito. You've been going out and hanging up when I call you and staying up late on your phone. And it seems like every time I see you, that – girl is hanging around you. You know what it looks like."

"What? What does it look like?" Kaito feels his scowl growing.

Shinichi makes a hurt sound, as if someone's stuck a shard of glass into his side. "It –" He stops, swallows, and then meets Kaito's eyes. "It looks like you're… seeing someone else."

It takes a few seconds for his meaning to sink in, and when it does, Kaito is fairly certain his heart stops for a second. "You – you –"

"Yeah," Shinichi mumbles, subdued. His eyes look suspiciously shiny. "I know. And – and I think it would be best if we…" He trails off, his mouth moving around a few silent syllables – break up – but he doesn't finish. Kaito is glad, because he's not entirely sure he'd survive Shinichi actually saying the words break up in relation to them.

"I – oh my God, Shinichi, no, I don't want to break up with you," Kaito says, strangled, the second he's recovered. Shinichi gives him a dead-eyed look, and Kaito flails, knocking over a probably important monitor. "I swear to God, Shinichi, I'm not – I'm not cheating on you!"

Shinichi lifts an eyebrow like then what?

"I was trying to – look, okay –" Kaito casts around for the ring, but then he realizes that he forgot it in his haste to get to the hospital. He clenches his jaw before he reaches out to take Shinichi's face in his hands. Shinichi's skin is smooth and soft beneath his fingertips, at least until Shinichi pulls away from the touch. "You have to believe me. I haven't met anyone. I was going to – it wasn't – I didn't –"

One corner of Shinichi's mouth twitches downwards in a way that strongly implies Kaito is not doing a very good job of convincing him.

"Shinichi, you –" With a groan of frustration, Kaito drops onto one knee, ignoring the way Shinichi's eyebrows jump up his forehead. His heart is in his throat, and he's acutely aware of the blood rushing past his ears, but all he can focus on is the look on Shinichi's face, the wideness of Shinichi's eyes. "Kudou Shinichi, will you marry me?"

Shinichi stares at him, blank-faced. His mouth is partly open. He looks a bit as if someone forgot to change his batteries. "Um…"

"Please," Kaito says, hoping he doesn't sound as pathetic as he feels. He runs his tongue across his lips. "Shinichi."

"Okay, I'm confused," Shinichi announces. He's blinking rapidly, rubbing a hand over his mouth. "You – I thought – weren't you…?"

Kaito's mouth feels sticky when he swallows. "I wasn't cheating on you," he mumbles. "I was trying to plan the proposal. I – there was going to be this heist setup thing, and I was going to propose to you on the boat where the Black Star heist was held, and I went to a jewelry store with Hakuba and got you a ring and everything, but I forgot it because I was panicking when I heard that you were in the hospital, and I know it's not –" His babbling is cut short when Shinichi tugs on the lapel of his jacket, pulling him to his feet, and kisses him gently on the mouth.

"I'm sorry," he says when he pulls back, and Kaito realizes that he's smiling, a stupid, fond smile that makes Kaito go warm all over. "I should've believed you. Believed in you."

"Yeah," Kaito grins, his heart pounding. "Can't believe you thought I was cheating, babe." He clears his throat. Shinichi's eyes are gentle and soft, warm. Kaito wants to build a home here and never leave this moment. "But you never answered my question."

Shinichi exhales a shaky laugh. His smile is wide and dopey and Kaito wants to kiss it off of him. "Yeah."

Kaito feels his heart soar. "Yeah?" he asks, hopeful, and Shinichi nods, and it's like the whole world is different, brighter, better, and Kaito can't stop smiling. He has the feeling that he's never going to be this happy ever again. He can't wait to prove himself wrong.

They stand there holding each other, smiling idiotically at each other and swaying from side to side, until Hakuba opens the door and makes a choking noise.

"I saw nothing," he announces before he backpedals quickly out of the room.

"We still have our clothes on," Kaito yells after him.

"Not for long!" Hakuba shouts darkly, followed by the sound of a crash and frantic apologies that indicates he probably just ran into an orderly. Shinichi sighs, but his mouth is curved upwards when Kaito leans in to kiss him.

"We could follow his advice," Kaito suggests when they pull apart. He's got one hand around the back of Shinichi's head, tangled in Shinichi's hair, and he feels it when Shinichi glances contemplatively at the bed behind them.

"How sturdy do you think hospital beds are?" he asks, perfectly innocent, and Kaito smothers his uncontrollable smile in the side of Shinichi's neck. He's so glad he fell in love with Shinichi.

He's so not glad he fell in love with Shinichi.

"He proposed in a hospital room," Shinichi tells Aoko, gleeful, as he helps her adjust her veil and hands her a compact so she can obsessively check her makeup for the eighth time in the past five minutes. "He forgot the ring. He didn't even give me flowers."

Aoko looks viciously delighted as she powders her nose. Kaito sighs, knowing that he's never going to live this down. They're all going to be eighty, and Aoko's going to bring up how he completely failed to propose to Shinichi in between bingo calls and complaining about rheumatism.

"You're the worst, darling," Kaito says, reaching out to straighten Shinichi's tie. Shinichi grins at him, unrepentant, and strides off to harass the caterers into setting up the tables faster – but not before he sneaks in a kiss that makes Kaito stare after him with a smile on his face that makes Aoko roll her eyes and hit him with her bouquet.

"You'll have plenty of time to make eyes at him later," she reminds him as she heads towards the chapel doors, and Kaito can't even fault her, because she's not wrong. He has all the time in the world.

If you made it this far, you probably have cavities and I'm sorry.

Hope you enjoyed this fic even a little (if you did, please consider dropping me a review!) and I'll see you all (hopefully) soon! - Luna