Pairing:Kuroba Kaito/ Kudo Shinichi.

Disclaimer: Detective Conan does not belong to me.

Also this is probably going to be a two-shot and has been cross-posted on ao3 under classizc_phan .

Summary:

Not many things flustered Kuroba Kaito and broke his Poker Face and the following two things are definitely not the ones that do:

1. Fish.

2. Kudo Shinichi saying cheesy pick-up lines.

Kaito had been minding his own business, it might be hard to believe him when he says this but he swears he was. He wasn't expecting the famous not-child detective to be standing behind him in Touto University's library. He certainly wasn't expecting him to lean forwards so he could whisper into Kaito's ear.

"I don't have a library card, but do you mind if I check you out?"

Kaito couldn't help but freeze, thinking if he should fight or flee, but if it was who he thought he was- which was definitely true because when was Kaito ever wrong- he should probably flee but that was what a coward would do and Kaito was anything but a coward.

So, he turned towards the detective and opened his mouth to say an equally cheesy pick up line but stopped when he saw how close his face was to the detective. Their noses were almost touching and Kaito could probably close the distance between their lips in less than a second –he suddenly wanted to know if it was possible to do just that. But he suppressed the urge to jump the detective and took a step back.

" I..I- what?," he sputtered.

Kaito wanted to positively smack himself right then and there when he felt his face turning redder that it already was; or jump from the top of the Touto tower without his hand glider the moment he got away from here.

Kudo Shinichi's serious face broke into a grin the moment he heard the thief's stuttered reply.

He was going to have so much fun with this.

Kaito regretted waking up that morning.

So he did what he should have done from the beginning and turned towards the librarian who probably heard and saw the whole thing judging by the blush on her face.

"Can I have the book I asked for?" Kaito said a bit impatiently, quickly grabbing the book which she held out and promptly made his way out of the building without even sparing a glance towards the Heisei Holmes.

Great.

Run away, Kuroba Kaito, you dumbass.

He only let down his poker face when he was in the safety of his house and his blanket. Putting his hands over his face, he let the blush hit his face in full force.

He remembered how it all started.

...

Kaito had been excited when he heard the news of his favorite detective coming back. He had been proud to hear the news of not-anymore-pint-sized detective taking down one of the biggest criminal organization from Nakamori-keibu at dinner when he complained about noisy detectives who were too young to face criminals. It had been difficult for Kaito to not break into a grin at the mention of his detective.

He was even more excited to hear that the old man Suzuki Jirokichi had made another announcement about his upcoming challenge for Kaito KID and surely that meant Tantei-kun would attend his heists like he did before when he was chibi sized.

Kaito was getting more and more excited and decided he needed to properly welcome his rival.

He continued to ignore the mildly constipated looks Aoko was sending his way, who was feeling worried after seeing the manic grin on her best friend's face.

He was looking forward to the next heist.

...

During his time as Conan, Shinichi sometimes didn't hate the fact that he had turned back into a child. While no one listened to him and he was constantly being thrown around, he had learned much more. He began to sympathize more, empathize more and be more considerate to those around him.

He had found a sister, a best friend and a lot more friends than he had made when he was himself at the least.

He learned that the world was much more than he had ever imagined and more dangerous. Although that didn't stop him from going after every case and every criminal he stumbled across. The small voice in the back of his mind whispered a -you should probably stop doing that soon before you actually die- but he ignored it as usual because that voice sounded alarmingly like Haibara's and he thinks his body is conditioned to not listen to her.

But now, when he had finally turned back to his original height, he was beginning to loathe ever becoming Conan.

Maybe it wasn't a good thing that he returned.

"Does God hate me or something? Why did Lady Luck decide to leave me now?" he groaned, thumping his head lightly against the floor on which he was lying on, instead his head was met with paper which reminded him more about what he had gotten himself into.

"Can you stop complaining? Nobody told you to poke your nose in places where it didn't belong so it's your entire fault anyway. You should be grateful to Mouri-chan; I didn't expect her to give you her notes after what happened. You better do it properly if you want to graduate on time," Haibara said, her eyes flickering to the sad lump on the floor before returning to the newspaper in front of her.

Shinichi mumbled something before resuming the school work which he had been doing for the past two days, trying to complete all the work he had missed during his -almost an year and half- absence. Thankfully, he didn't have to do the whole years worth, just the last six months or so. He hadn't been able to do anything in that time as he was busy planning to take down the organization once and for all. He just hadn't expected it to take so much time and now he was suffering for it.

"I would advise you to finish it quickly," Haibara said, her voice a bit smug.

Shinichi turned his head towards the scientist and glared weekly, lifting an eyebrow in a silent question.

"You wouldn't want to miss your first heist as yourself, now would you?" her voice was positively smug now with a teasing edge to it and Shinichi wanted to do nothing more than burn himself at that moment, his cheeks were already burning a little so it wouldn't matter if he just burned them a bit more.

Instead he ignored her and went back to his work muttering about a stupid thief and why would he look forward to meeting a thief when he was a detective and other stupid stuff. He did start finishing his work more quickly, though.

Saturday morning, he found himself quietly drinking his coffee at Poirot waiting for Ran when his peaceful morning was very rudely disturbed by a very loud Suzuki Sonoko ranting about KID-sama and how she wished he would steal her because she shined brighter than all the gems KID had stolen.

Shinichi as per usual continued ignoring her and read through the heist note printed on the front page. It was a challenge from Sonoko's uncle so the note only stated the time and day when KID will strike –no hint on how he would steal the gem so Shinichi would be going to the heist without any clue, completely blind. He felt thrilled, going head to head with the elusive thief in his own body. The police officers will also listen to his deductions more now that he returned as Shinichi Kudo although he would need to rebuild the trust he had gained as Conan Edogawa.

Sonoko continued telling Ran her latest strategy to make KID fall in love with her and Shinichi had to hand it to Ran when she didn't even blink and just pointed out the fact that she already had a boyfriend who was better that Kaitou Kid- a thief- could ever be.

Ran smiled at Shinichi when she sat beside him by the windows and greeted him; he did the same while Sonoko gawked at Ran and didn't Ran realize how Makoto-kun and KID-sama were different?

Sonoko eventually settled down enough for them to order breakfast before they all engaged in a conversation about which university they were going to apply for and the upcoming tests. They all were applying for the same universities but Ran wanted to join a place which had a good faculty for law, Sonoko had yet to decide which course she was going to take and Shinichi just wanted to be able to go to a university. Although he did know which course he would take, he wasn't sure it was going to be easy to get into a university seeing how much school he had missed. He was grateful when the school authorities had allowed him to take the graduation exams even though it took a bit of help from his parents and the police.

The conversation had managed to stir back to the topic of KID and his upcoming heist and Shinichi was roped into capturing KID to present to Sonoko –not that he minded, well the part about capturing him and not the part about presenting the thief to Sonoko.

She had gotten a bit more forceful around him ever since he came back and he and Ran decided that they wouldn't date. She had been confused when she had found out, and saw that Ran wasn't mad about it? Her best friend had waited for this guy for so long and now they wouldn't even date?

She had asked Ran about it in the beginning but never brought up the topic after she saw the look on her face and heard the words that she said with conviction, "He is like a little brother to me now."

She was happy that her childhood best friend had moved on but that didn't stop her for being rude to Shinichi anyway. Not that Shinichi cared much for it, guessing from his lack of response to any for her verbal abuse.

That was how Shinichi found himself waiting alongside everyone, counting down till the moment the thief was said to appear. While he was glad he had been able to attend the heist even though homicide detective Kudo Shinichi had no place at a KID heist expect for being Suzuki Sonoko's friend; he wasn't sure if he was welcome anymore- not by the officers but by KID himself.

The officers had taken to him as well as he had thought and Inspector Nakamori had glared at him when he had arrived but he mostly stopped after Suzuki-san said it was alright; the other officers were just asking him questions about the big case he had been gone for which he politely declined to answer and reminded them about the heist which demanded their attention more. They left him alone after a while and he then focused on the thought that plagued his mind after he had reached the museum where the stone was being held. Did KID want him to keep attending the heists, even though he was not the KID killer anymore? Would they still play the game of cat and mouse, even if Shinichi was not pint sized anymore? Would they be able to have their roof-top conversations after the heist was over?

Before he could mull over these thoughts more, the lights went out and a loud voice was heard.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome! Today we have a very special guest with us here –Kudo Shinichi, the savior of the Japanese Police, please enjoy this little show as a warm welcome from this thief." He said and Shinichi's cheeks turned red.

Before Nakamori could shout at the taskforce to stop the thief, the whole room was filled with bright golden and blue lights. The inspector and the old man were tied together wearing clothes with different shades of colors like a sunset and there were the officers on the ground wearing a blue color not unlike the ocean forming the picture of a sun setting over the ocean. The room was filled with sounds of the ocean and calm background music. There was some steam spreading along the ceiling giving the illusion of clouds.

"I have stolen the Azure Maiden." KID announced with the gem held high for everyone to see.

Shinichi wasn't sure if he imagined it but his eyes met the thief's and there was a grin on his face before he disappeared in a poof of smoke.

He ignored Sonoko shouting for KID-sama and Ran's small gasps at the scene in front of her. Instead he immediately ran after the thief and jumped around the various traps that the thief must have set up beforehand and found himself at the rooftop in a few seconds. The time it usually took him to chase after the thief when he was Conan was more than a minute but now he could run and reach him in a matter of seconds, which Shinichi thought was a nice thing as he got more time with the thief.

His eyes widened when he realized what he had just thought.

More time to match wits with the thief.

That was better.

Soon he was face to face with the Magician under the Moonlight and Shinichi stopped. KID was looking directly at him with a wide smile on his face and something unrecognizable in his eyes.

"Welcome back, Tantei-kun! My, I never imagined that you were actually this tall," KID smirked, stepping towards the detective and stopping before him.

"KID, the jewel." Shinichi demanded, bringing his tranquilizer watch up and pointing it towards the thief.

"As impatient as always."

The Phantom Thief's hand reached up and Shinichi almost took a step back, he didn't think the thief would actually give him the gem so easily. He was correct when instead of the Azure Maiden; his hand produced an azure colored flower. The Savior of the Japanese Police looked dumbfounded as the flower was held out towards him. He stared at the owner of the hand who just grinned before taking a step forward but put the flower in Shinichi's chest pocket.

"It's good to have you back, my darling Meitantei." KID bowed and placed a kiss on top of Shinichi's hand before taking a step back and disappearing.

Maybe it was a good thing that he returned, Shinichi thought as he flushed a bright red.

...

Maybe the reason Shinichi flirted with him was because he was the one who started it, but he hadn't expected the detective to flirt back! He didn't want the detective to know how flustered he got whenever he saw Shinichi because damn that guy was beautiful. He wanted to look into Shinichi's eyes forever and hug him and never let go and … Kaito stopped his train of thoughts, he already knew that Shinichi didn't think of him that way considering his relationship with his childhood best friend and probably girlfriend Ran.

Kaito shouldn't think about Shinichi's relationship with her.

He should be thinking about the important matters about how Shinichi now knew how he looked and could probably find out his name in seconds and get him arrested, although he seriously doubted that Shinichi would ever do that. His detective had a weird set of morals; never chasing after KID outside of heists. This made him so much better than any other detective and more attractive in Kaito's eyes.

...

It was just Kaito's luck that he had to be seated right next to the detective in the only class they had together. He had been looking forward to this class as he was already really good at English and thus didn't have to put that much effort into it as his other courses required. Well Kaito didn't have to put much effort into a lot of things, they came naturally to him but he did have to practice.

So imagine his surprise when Kudo Shinichi very gracefully slid into the seat beside him five minutes before the lecture started. Shinichi looked at him and then grinned.

"If I could rearrange the English alphabets, I would put 'U' and 'I' together," he said with a self satisfied grin on his face as he watched Kaito's face turn red before Kaito turned his face towards the front and silently prayed for his poker face to come back and save him from this embarrassment.

He decided the best way to play out of this was to be oblivious. He looked at Shinichi who was looking at him expectantly and asked, "Have we met before?"

Kaito hadn't thought this through because who was he kidding? He knew he couldn't bluff the Detective of the East this easily and this theory was proven correct when the detective in question raised an eyebrow at him.

"Really, KID?" Kaito groaned as he heard his detective, thanking god that Hakuba wasn't here.

He looked Shinichi in the eyes and couldn't help but stare at him. The two times he had met Shinichi –at the heist and when he made a fool out of himself- he hadn't been able to look at him properly but now, sitting right beside him, Kaito looked at him properly. Shinichi's eyes were the kind of azure that sucked you in, the man's face was beautiful and while Kaito hadn't realized how good looking he was until now seeing how Kaito had seen him as Conan mostly and in newspapers. He suddenly realized why girls gushed over a homicide detective. He would too.

And well if they were going to keep meeting, he might as well, Kaito decided.

"Kaito. Kuroba Kaito." He flourished a rose and held it towards the shocked detective.

"W-what?" Shinichi stuttered, which was immensely pleasing to Kaito.

"That's my name. It's nice to meet you, Shinichi." Kaito said, beckoning his detective to take the rose, the same azure colored one he had offered to Shinichi on the day of the heist.

"A-ah thank you and it's nice to meet you too," Shinichi said taking the rose offered and putting it into his chest pocket. Kaito beamed at the gesture before looking forward again.

…

Kaito honestly didn't think he would meet the Heisei Holmes again on the same day but lady luck wanted it that way so who wanted to go against her wishes. He made his way towards Shinichi who was sitting near the end with case files in front of him. He sat across him and greeted him in a cheerful voice.

Shinichi looked up startled to see the newcomer before relaxing, sending Kaito a smile and returning back to the cases. Kaito had to rethink every lesson he had on breathing because Kudo Shinichi had just given him a genuine smile and it was the prettiest thing ever.

Kaito continued to think about all the things he wanted to do with those lips, making sure to keep his poker face on. Shinichi looked at the case file with a smirk that Kaito was pretty sure made criminals turn around and run with their tails between their legs, he shut his case files and put them in a neat stack before picking it up with his cup of coffee.

He looked Kaito in the eyes, his eyes shining as if he had the answer to the world before he grinned –that same grin Kaito had seen on him twice already and Kaito knew what was coming and he also knew that there was no way out of it and-

"If you were ground coffee, you'd be Espresso because you're so fine." And with that Shinichi left the café, muttering a quick goodbye and leaving Kaito spluttering like the mess he was.

...

Having dinner once a week with the Nakamori's was something that he enjoyed. He didn't enjoy it when the topic of conversation was about how smart Shinichi was. When Aoko had decided she would follow her father's footsteps in becoming a police officer, Kaito –as her best friend- had been proud of her even though he was on the opposite side of the law. While that didn't stop Kaito from teasing her at every opportunity and whining about police officers to make her mad, it didn't mean he wasn't proud of his best friend.

But he hadn't realized that this meant she, Hakuba and Shinichi would have some classes together, and now he didn't like it at all when he had been hit in the face with the fact. He thought as he poked at the steak in front of her, which was a bit burned around the edges –looks like Aoko's cooking hadn't improved that much. He knew Shinichi was smart, he had seen him work on cases and solve countless mysteries but he didn't need Aoko gushing over his maybe crush like that in front of him. And from the looks of it neither did Nakamori-keibu.

Though, the Inspector did acknowledge that the detective was smart. Seeing how he had handled the KID case a few years ago and how he had managed to get the jewel this time; he was unduly impressed. But he did worry about the kid, he had to have taken a hit and while it was pretty unnoticeable to those who didn't look closely; Kudo seemed to be weary and looked carefully at every shadow like it might jump at him any moment.

The conversation got louder as the Phantom Thief was brought into it and the inspector was shouting about how he was going to finally catch the damn thief and put him behind bars. Aoko cheered on her father while Kaito laughed behind his poker face.

...

Kaito walked the halls of the building juggling a few colored balls which kept of disappearing and reappearing, attracting the attention of all the passer bys and while he would usually stop and give them a little show, this time he had to be somewhere. Kaito had agreed to have lunch with Aoko and her nuisance of a boyfriend Hakuba.

He made the balls disappear when he saw Aoko talking to someone who stood behind the door. He called to her, running towards her.

"Ahh! Kaito, you're early," she said before turning back towards the person she was previously talking to. Kaito did the same and felt his eyes widen as he stared into eyes that mirrored his.

"Let Aoko introduce you two, Kudo-kun this is Kuroba Kaito –my childhood friend, I told you about him before- the magician. And Kaito, this is Kudo Shinichi," Aoko stated, oblivious to the fact that the thief and detective already knew each other.

"There is no need to introduce us Nakamori-san," Shinichi said with a grin on his face, "I'm already well acquainted with Kaito."

And Kaito again tried not to let his poker face crumble, which seems to happen anytime something involved with his detective came up. And did he just hear him say his first name?

Kaito thought that Shinichi couldn't get more attractive than he already was, but Kaito soon realized how wrong he was when he heard him say his name.

"Yeah, we already know each other;" he coughed, before trying to change the subject, "What were the two of you talking about?"

Before Aoko could say anything Shinichi stepped forward and said in a low voice, "We were just talking about this page a friend of mine sent me about pick-up lines." Kaito regretted ever trying to change the subject.

"I think one of my favorites was," Shinichi continued, a feral grin on his face as he looked Kaito directly in the eyes, "You must be a hell of a thief because you stole my heart from across the room." And just like that, a little red seeped into Kaito's face and his mouth hung open, breaking his poker face.

Shinichi continued grinning before bidding them goodbyes' and walking out of the little group they had created.

Aoko who had been strangely quiet, watching the whole conversation unfold, turned so fast to look at Kaito that he got scared for a second that she got whiplash, and glared at him.

"When were you going to tell me about you and Kudo-kun?" she whisper shouted at him.

"It's nothing like that, I swear. We just have a bit of a joke going on." Which was partially true, Kaito did think that Shinichi had been dropping those lines as a joke and that was part of the reason why he was so mad at himself. Because he was certainly thinking way ahead and hoping that there could be more between them.

Aoko opened her mouth to retort but Kaito quickly changed the subject by dragging her to the café where they were supposed to meet Hakuba.

Soon they were seated at the café, waiting for Hakuba to arrive. This might be the first time in his whole life that he would think this way but he wished that the bastard would arrive soon, just so he could escape from the look Aoko was giving him.

"Seriously, what is going-" Kaito cut her off before she could say anything more, waving to the blond detective.

"Hey Aoko, your boyfriend is here." He said, giving her his usual grin.

Both Hakuba and Aoko gave the magician a weird look because when was Kaito ever happy that Hakuba was here? Hakuba ignored the crazy magician, turning towards Aoko silently asking the question.

"Kaito and Kudo Shinichi have a thing for each other," was her straight forward reply which neither of the two males were expecting. While Kaito's mind had traitor going on repeat; Hakuba was too in shock to even form a coherent sentence which in its self was a shock.

"Wait, Kudo Shinichi, as in Savior of the Police Force Kudo, Detective of the East Kudo, Heisei Holmes Kudo Shinichi?" Hakuba said once he was able to form sentences.

"Yes, unless you know some other Kudo Shinichi," Aoko said in her deadpan voice.

"Bu- but how come he didn't realize that Kuroba was the Kaitou KID!?"

Kaito was about to turn the blond detective's hair an interesting shade of green for the accusations he was making towards him but was interrupted by Aoko pinching the bastard for even thinking that her best friend could be the lousy thief.

Kaito was proud of his best friend –she truly cared about him- before the next words left her mouth.

"Can you leave him alone? He is just in denial with the fact that he and Kudo-kun are practically an item."

...

Kaito had been waiting for this day for a while, he wanted to get more supplies for his tricks and Aoko had wanted to go test out the new restaurant that everyone was raving about. Aoko looked around the store while Kaito bought the things he needed, mentally putting a tick on the things that he had gotten and making a list of the things he would have to buy while being in a disguise.

They made their way towards the restaurant and were just being shown towards their table when Kaito caught a glance of a cowlick near the seats around the end of the restaurant before he turned back around, planning to have a embarrassment free day. He sat down facing the detective's back. Perfect.

Kaito would try his best to not look at him and Aoko won't notice the detective and the detective won't notice them –probably -hopefully. He would have to make sure that the detective didn't feel his gaze on him though, as he knew that Shinichi was weirdly good at feeling a gaze on his back, even though it belonged to a Phantom Thief.

It looks like he wouldn't have to worry about it, Kaito grumbled as he saw who the detective was with, they look pretty comfortable together.

"Kaito! Bakaito!" Aoko shouted, moving her hands in front of his face.

"What do you want, Ahoko?" Kaito grumbled, pushing her hand away.

"I've been calling you name for a long time, you idiot. I was just asking if you were ready to order," she snapped, before calling the waiter over after she received a reply in affirmative from the lost magician.

It had been quiet for a while after that, the two friends talking about their days and their classes. Kaito had been sneaking one too many glances towards the detective who was still talking animatedly with the Mouri girl.

A scream ripped through the quiet atmosphere and Kaito was already in front of Aoko looking around for any signs of danger. His gaze stopped at the Heisei Holmes kneeling besides a person and barking orders at them. Kaito immediately moved into action and made sure nobody left the restaurant.

Of course, someone had to die whenever Shinichi was around. He was seriously considering getting him purified after seeing how bodies just piled around him. Although he was glad that Shinichi was there when it happened, at least the culprit would be caught.

He moved back towards where Aoko was standing, who was looking at Shinichi as he talked with the employees and the people who arrived with the victim.

"You seem really into it," Kaito mumbled to her.

"This is the first time I've seen Kudo-kun working on a case, it's fascinating to say the least." Kaito couldn't argue with that, it was. "And I thought it would be nice to see how everything went around a crime scene. Gain some practical experience."

"Maybe you should ask his friend who is standing there," Kaito pointed out Ran who was looking at the crime scene with worry in her eyes.

Aoko seemed to like the idea and went towards the other girl, not asking Kaito how he had known about them being friends. Kaito took this opportunity to look around the crime scene before the police arrived. While he was a criminal, he didn't really like seeing dead bodies and wanted to help his detective put the criminal behind bars as soon as possible, which was a bit ironic.

The police arrived soon after that and by that time Shinichi had singled out four suspects out of all the people present there. Aoko had found her place besides him again but this time Mouri-chan was with her, looking a bit more relaxed.

Kaito introduced himself, offering her a yellow rose which seemed to make her happy as she smiled and introduced herself in return. Together they watched Shinichi ask the suspects questions and run around the place looking for clues.

Kaito was the one to notice the smirk that spread across Shinichi's face as he stood up and headed towards Takagi-keiji and muttered a few words to him.

"Looks like it's over," Kaito grinned.

"Huh? What do you mean by that, Kaito?" both Aoko and Mouri looked at Kaito with confusion before Kaito pointed towards the Detective of the East.

"It's written on his face. The culprit should probably run now," Kaito laughed a bit when the culprit did run after Shinichi deduced he was the culprit and showed all the evidence along with the evidence he still had on himself. The culprit was the friend of the victim who had just found out that the victim had been embezzling money from the firm they used to work at together and had put all the blame of the culprit which led to him losing his job and his wife leaving him. The culprit ran towards where the three of them were standing near the entrance and Kaito already had taken out a few of his props to give the culprit some memories he would have nightmares about but was stopped when the culprit flew backwards instead, courtesy of Mouri Ran's roundhouse kick.

"Oi Aoko, remind me to never get on her bad side." Kaito quietly mumbled to his best friend

Meanwhile, Shinichi came forward, took one look at the unconscious man lying on the floor before giving Ran a high five. Shinichi smiled when he noticed the other two people and greeted them.

Aoko started asking him questions about the case and soon Aoko and Ran were talking about meeting up again and exchanging e-mails and phone numbers. During this time, Shinichi had found his way towards Kaito and was looking straight at him.

"I'm a bit offended that you didn't say hi when you entered the restaurant." The smirk on his face suggested he was anything but offended, although he seemed to be enjoying the look in Kaito's eyes.

"You noticed?" Kaito had been sure to be very discrete and knew that the detective was mostly hyper aware of everyone around him but Shinichi had never even looked at him during the time they were eating.

"I noticed you the second you entered, KID."

"Well if that's the case, then I should be the one who should be offended, Tantei-kun," Kaito teased while Shinichi just smiled at him.

Quietly they watched the police take last minute statements from the employees and Kaito couldn't help but notice the swell of pride he suddenly felt for Shinichi.

"Meitantei, you're always on top of things, aren't you?" Kaito complimented him.

Shinichi was stunned for a few seconds before a smile took over his face, which quickly turned into a grin and then a smirk.

"Why? Would you like to be one of them?"

Yes.

And just like that Kaito burst into flames. Not literally.