Mikau: Hello and welcome back! Thanks for coming back for more. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, so I hope you enjoy it. And before I forget, thanks so much to Kaito Dark and Aniki-xvi for their reviews! I truly appreciated it.

Disclaimer: If I owned it, there would be more Heiji. I'm missing Kansai-ben terribly. I especially like it when he says "Nan ya?" It sounds like he's meowing. "Nya". I can't help but hear it every time he speaks.

…

The Answer to the Riddle

Edogawa Conan could no longer ignore the dove staring at him through the windowpane. It had become impossible for him to concentrate on his rudimentary, first grade reading homework; he was pretty sure he had just read the same paragraph for a fifth time and was still no more certain of what it said than before he had read it the first time.

The young detective sighed, closing the book and glaring at the bird before actually getting up and going over to stare back at it through the glass. He put his hands on his hips and menaced at the avian for all he was worth.

The dove cooed, cocking its head to the side as if asking what it had done to deserve such hostile treatment.

With a frown, the former high schooler scratched his head.

Perhaps he was over-thinking things. Not every dove that came to visit the Mouri Detective Agency was a harbinger of the doom that went around calling itself "Kid".

Then again, there was a little message capsule attached to this particular dove's leg. That was usually a pretty good indicator of from whence this little bird had come.

Conan sighed again and cracked open the window. "Good evening. I assume you have something for me?"

The little dove stretched out its leg so that Conan could retrieve the note from the small, ovular canister.

"Your master is a weirdo; you know that, right?" the pint-sized sleuth chuckled in spite of himself as he unrolled the slip of paper.

The dove made a little coo of agreement.

Conan frowned.

The note read: "Dearest Tantei-kun, I come in peace. I just wanted to talk. Meet me downstairs?" Instead of the normal Kid caricature, the message was signed with only a drawing of a four leaf clover.

"Is he for real?" Conan asked the dove, which responded with another coo.

The detective sighed once more for good measure. "Alright. I'll go. Against my better judgment, I'll go."

And then the bird flew off.

"Tantei-kun," called a young lady sitting in a booth by the window.

Conan raised an eyebrow but slid into the seat across from her anyway.

She looked suspiciously like a female Kudo Shinichi. Like a very nervous female Kudo Shinichi.

Hn. That wasn't like the thief to be so distracted and anxious.

"You…okay?" Conan snuck furtive glances at his nemesis as he pretended to read the menu.

Kid shook his…her? head. "I need your advice."

Conan almost broke out in peals of creepy childish laughter right then and there. "My advice is to go ask somebody else for advice. You don't want my advice."

Kid frowned, only it came out looking like more of a pout than Conan was comfortable with. "I don't have anyone else to ask…that I can ask."

"…Alright. What do you want?" Conan grumbled.

Even Kid's great acting skills weren't enough to entirely cover up his involuntary flinch. "I need your advice about my love life."

Conan's eyes widened to the size of tennis balls. "You do NOT want my advice about your love life unless you're planning on sabotaging it."

"Tantei-kun," Kid whined softly, practically begging with his eyes.

"Fine," the detective breathed. "But don't blame me if your girlfriend karate-kicks you through a wall. That's the reaction I get, mostly."

"I'm more worried about judo-throwing," Kid mumbled. "Hakuba kissed me."

Conan was really glad he hadn't ordered anything yet. If he had been drinking at that moment, his rival would have ended up with coffee all over his cute dress.

Conan blinked twice slowly.

Kid stared nervously back, wringing his hands under the table and fidgeting under the small sleuth's unwavering gaze.

"While you were wearing that dress, I hope?" Conan's stare was as cold as an iceberg and as penetrating as a laser.

Kid slowly shook his head. "I was wearing pants at the time."

Conan suppressed an 'I should hope so' but didn't bother censoring the eye roll. "He knew it was you?"

Kid nodded, chewing nervously on his lips.

"Did he say anything?"

"He said he loves me and was talking about how he was going to propose and take me to Tahiti," the phantom in women's clothing gulped.

"Tahiti's nice," Conan set down his menu and frowned at his prankster of a nemesis. "I'll be leaving now. I don't really have time for your jokes, Kid."

"Tantei-kun, I'm serious!" Kid hissed under his breath so as to not cause a scene in the restaurant. "Hakuba kissed me, he loves me, what. Do. I. Do?!"

Conan observed the panicked look on the other teen's face for a minute before his own internal alarm started going off. "Holy crap. You are serious. Hakuba kissed you?!"

"That's what I told you!" Kid cried in exasperation. "What do I do, Tantei-kun?"

"And he knew it was you." Conan couldn't help but gawk a little.

"YES."

"Is he a good kisser?"

Kid's face went bright red, and Conan knew that Kid wasn't wearing a latex mask. "Please, Kudo. Tell me what the hell I'm supposed to do now?"

"I don't know," the shrunken sleuth quietly exclaimed. "I can't even manage my own love life. I'm the last person to tell you how to deal with yours. What the hell do you want to do?"

Kid looked down and away with a noncommittal shrug. "I don't want to hurt him."

"Are you interested in him?" Conan probed. "Do you like him, or could you like him in the future?"

Kid swallowed hard. "M-Maybe after a while. I'm not exactly batting for the other team yet, but…that kiss…"

"You liked it?" Conan hazarded a guess.

There was a small, almost imperceptive nod from Kid.

"Then be brutally honest with him. That's my advice," Conan stated with a tone of finality. "I know I'm a bit of a hypocrite, telling you that, but if I've learned anything from screwing up my relationship with Ran, it's that you've just got to be honest."

"Just be honest," Kid echoed. "…but what do I say?"

"I don't know; I'm eight," Conan snorted.

"And you think being eighteen's any better?" Kid hissed in utter frustration. "I don't know what the hell I'm doing. Hakuba's talking about marriage and honeymoons. I'm just trying not to get shot, lately."

Conan politely disregarded the fact that Kid had given him his actual age. "How about this: tell him you're unsure of your feelings, that you liked the kiss, but that you're not so sure about getting hitched right away. Start out by agreeing to a date or just friendship or something. How's that sound?"

"Yeah…. That could work," Kid muttered. He looked up and smiled. "Thanks, Tantei-kun. You've been a real help. Can I treat you to coffee or something?"

The poor, coffee-deprived grade schooler's eyes lit up. "Why, yes. Yes, you can…. So…you and Hakuba, huh?"

Kid blushed again. "Oh, shush you…or I'll tell your girlfriend where you've been this whole time."

"You wouldn't dare."

Kid smirked.

That shut the young detective up pretty quickly.

Kuroba had been absent from school the day after what Saguru had begun to think of as "the incident". That did not bode well for the teen in love.

After class let out for the day, Hakuba had gone home and locked himself in his room. He slipped into his plaid pajama pants and a plain white t-shirt that, in all honesty, really needed to be disposed of. It was a tad small. He put on his reading glasses and settled in at his desk to begin work on some of the cold cases he kept on file.

At eight forty-three exactly, there was a light rapping on the sliding glass door that led out to the small balcony off of Saguru's room.

Saguru blinked and turned around to gaze in suspicion at the door. He sincerely hoped that he had just imagined the noise.

It was quiet for a minute and a half, and Saguru was just about to get back to his murder case when it came again.

The poor detective glared at the curtain hiding the glass from view. He muttered some choice words in English under his breath as he stood to greet his most unwelcome guest.

He pulled back the curtain, and was surprised to find not Kid, but Kuroba standing on his balcony in regular street clothes. Saguru opened the door. "Come to taunt me, have you?"

Kuroba shook his head and made no move to enter, despite the nippy autumn breeze.

"Why are you standing on my balcony, knocking at my window?" Hakuba asked in a level tone, feeling anything but calm at that moment.

Kuroba shrugged. "Figured you wouldn't see me if I knocked at the front. It's a little late for visitors anyway."

"And how did you know which room was mine?" Saguru bit the inside of his cheek.

Kuroba hummed thoughtfully. "The answer's a little incriminating. Let's just say it's the only one on the second floor with the light on."

"In other words, you've staked out the manor in the past for the delivery of heist notes," Saguru snorted.

Kuroba smirked but didn't say anything.

The detective sighed, adjusting his glasses so that they sat up further on the bridge of his nose. "Let's cut to the chase, shall we? Why is Kuroba Kaito standing on my balcony at eight fifty-one and…at eight fifty-one at night? Are you delivering your notices in person now?"

The magician chuckled softly and shook his head. "I wanted to say sorry for bolting on you like that. You just kind of spooked me."

Saguru's cheeks lit up with embarrassment and shame. "Well, yes. Thank you. I suppose I too owe you an apology. It was most ungentlemanly of me to—"

"—Nah, don't worry about it." Kuroba easily shrugged "the incident" off without batting an eye. "I actually came here to give you something."

Saguru blinked. "Wh-What is it?"

Kuroba's hands were empty, but that didn't mean he wasn't hiding something on his person. Hakuba had seen the magician produce something large out of seemingly thin air enough times to know that things were not always as they seemed when it came to Kuroba Kaito.

Said teen thief laughed awkwardly, nervously scratching the back of his neck. His cheeks turned a faint shade of rose. "It's the answer to this riddle: Though beloved, self-despising. Grinning outside, inside crying. Always searching, never finding. Secretly in pain, but good at lying. Scared to be alone, but always in hiding…. What am I?"

Saguru just became more confused as he began to put the pieces of the riddle together. He could think of two answers, but he was afraid he was delusional. "And…you're going to give me the answer to the riddle," he mumbled.

"Yep." Kuroba blushed all the more. "If you want it."

Saguru went over the riddle again, but he was still coming up with the same answer. He gulped. "I-I don't think I know."

"Yes, you do." The other teen smiled softly, chewing nervously on his bottom lip.

Saguru took a deep breath and looked his crush right in the eye. "K-Kuroba Kaito."

The magician smiled—truly smiled—as he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Saguru's neck. He only hesitated for a second before pressing his lips gently to the other boy's.

"I love you," Saguru whispered as they pulled apart for air.

Kaito chuckled nervously. "Can I come in? We need to talk about that."

"Certainly. I-I'm terribly sorry." Saguru stepped out of the way to allow his—dare he say it?—boyfriend into the warmth of the Hakuba manor.

"Don't worry about it." Kaito shrugged, making himself comfortable on the couch.

"I'll get you some hot chocolate?" Saguru didn't wait for a reply before he headed to his mini-fridge to get the milk.

"You don't have to do that…. Thanks, Hakuba."

"You…you can call me 'Saguru', if you wish," the detective offered nervously.

"Not just yet." Kaito bit his lip. "Look, I know we kissed and everything, but…"

Saguru froze, his back to his guest. "You don't have feelings for me? That's right. You acted a bit homophobic in the closet. I—"

"—No." Kaito quickly corrected. "I kind of sort of might have feelings for you. I just…I don't love you quite yet…. In the closet, I…I liked the kiss, and that kind of freaked me out, but…I think I'm willing to try this out, if you don't mind me being so wishy-washy. I'm not exactly deserving of your affections, you know."

"No. That's fine." Saguru breathed a sigh of relief as he brought over the beverages and took a seat next to his boyfriend on the couch. "As long as you're willing, there will be time to win you over."

"Thanks," Kaito said, taking the mug.

"And…about your riddle. I don't quite like the way you described yourself. I plan on alleviating some of that pain and suffering, if you don't mind." Saguru smiled, leaning in to place a playful kiss on the shell of Kaito's ear.

"Y-Yeah." Kaito gulped. This could be good.

Across town there was a witch cackling daintily as she gazed into her crystal ball.

The

End

…

Mikau: How was it? I think my favorite line was "Is he a good kisser?" What was yours? Anyway, I hope you liked it. Thanks for taking the time to read. If you could take a second to drop me a couple lines, I'd appreciate it if you'd review. I'd like to know what you liked, what you didn't, what was funny and all that. Thanks in advance! Take care! Hopefully we'll meet again soon.