Archive of Our Own

His breath hitched as he peeked over the side of the wall, a furrow in his eyebrows, and it was just quiet. 

He keeps his senses on full alert, a breath sucked in once he heard someone murmuring from a distance. Shinichi couldn’t risk moving now, not when it was this quiet to the point where it was concerning. It reminded him of the first time he got involved with all this— how Gin had snuck up from behind him and hit him on the back of his head. He thinks he can still feel it sometimes, even though it’s been two years already.

He had finally found some intel on the branches related to the organization; the main thing got taken down a few months ago. He, Hattori, and a few connections came along together to deal with it, but when it came to the poison that made him like this, there was absolutely no information about it, like it never existed in the first place. 

His body stiffened, feeling his phone buzz in his jacket’s pocket, trying his best to turn it off without making too much noise. At least he had it set on vibrate mode; he would’ve been caught right then and there if it wasn't. 

He quickly glanced down at who called him, the contact reading Ran’s name, on Shinichi's phone, not Conan's, and he immediately hangs up, putting the phone on mute and looking around to make sure that he wasn’t heard by anyone from that.

After a moment, the door that was across the hall shut closed with a tight slam. His breath hitched a bit, and he could hear some yelling from that room but didn’t bother checking it; he had more urgent things to take care of. 

He's hurrying away from his hiding spot, sliding along the shadowy corners to move around without being spotted. That was one thing he appreciated his Conan body for; his steps were light, and his body was smaller; it was easier to hide anywhere. The only blessing he's ever gotten since all this happened.

Before he could get into the lab that he’s been aiming to reach for at least ten minutes now, he heard footsteps coming closer, heading towards the lab, or him. He breathes out a curse, trying to find something to hide behind, but he just somehow seemed to be in an empty hallway, the next corner being a few feet away, and if he makes a run for it, it’d be too loud. He tries going for it anyway; the sound of the footsteps seemed far enough for now, and they were moving slowly. 

He was halfway through the hall by the time the footsteps got close enough. He pressed his back tightly to the wall to catch his breath, and before he could make a light run for it, something is grabbing him from behind, making him panic. He was pulled back before he could put up a fight— not that he could anyway; he's been too tired for that lately, but his hand moves to his anesthetic watch right away, almost subconsciously. 

Shinichi is confused as to how someone grabbed him from behind, even though he had his back pressed to the wall, and his eyes widen as he sees that said wall close right in front of him. 

A hand was pressed to his mouth when he took a breath to speak, and he looked around in the dark, reaching up to twist the arm of his glasses to switch on the night vision, and he looked behind him to the person holding him. It was a tall figure; he couldn’t tell who it was, the face hidden under a hat, shadow over the eyes and face, only the lower face showing, and the person was looking at the wall, as if they could see through it. Shinichi tried to talk, but the hand pressed against his mouth stayed there, holding him tight and not budging once.

“Hush, Tantei-kun, it’s just me." The person spoke in a whisper to his ears, and his body stilled immediately, as if relaxing in a way, turning around and stopping once he was face to face with KID, feeling the thief’s breath against his face as he held a gloved finger to his lips before finally removing the hand that was clamped over Shinichi's mouth.

“What’re you doing here?” Shinichi hissed, and KID visibly rolled his eyes, placing his finger in front of his lips again, as if to shush him once more, and Shinichi sighs, deciding that they could talk later. He saw the thief stare back at the wall; he imitated the movement, wanting to see if KID was actually doing something or just zoning out to think. 

“It’s a fake wall, Tantei-kun. Don’t think too hard about it." KID muttered, his head suddenly over Shinichi's shoulder, but his hands were doing something else, flicking with a few lockpicking tools and a pen light, which he moved to hold between his teeth, shining it down on himself, and looking through more pockets than Shinichi could ever count in time. “Stay here; I’ll be right back.” 

He’s locked back behind the fake wall before he could say a word; KID is gone, and all he can do is just rest back, pulling his knees up to his chest and ignoring the way his head was pounding. Shinichi had already tried to open the wall the same way the thief did when he was leaving earlier, but it didn't work, so he just sat back. 

He wants to get up, to look through the wall like KID did earlier, to see what the thief was doing and try to help out, because he can't let KID get hurt if he gets caught by anyone here, but his body won't let him. Shinichi's head is spinning, and he feels a wave of nausea, clasping a hand over his mouth and shutting his eyes tight, his other hand clawing at the floor, and he subconsciously reaches into his pocket, grabbing a small bottle of pills and the tiny capsule of water that went along with it.

Haibara made those for him, big red pills that stared right back at him, to subside some of the effects caused by the apotoxin, the effects caused by all those temporary antidotes, the effects caused by regrowing all over again. 

He slips one between his lips, taking a sip of the water he had, sliding them both back into the inner pocket of his jacket for safekeeping. Shinichi's breath is heavy, there's an ache in his limbs, and he doesn't think he can move until the pills take their effect on him.

“It's going to slowly kill you, Kudo-kun. I'll try to make something to slow it, but I can't stop it." She told him another time, when the side effects first started showing and she had to do a whole number of tests on him. That was a year ago, on the one-year mark of the day he first became Conan, and the one-year mark of the worst incident to ever happen in his life, that caused him all of this and ruined everything for him when it was just all too perfect.

A few words stick to his head every time he takes the pills. “They're only here temporarily, Kudo-kun. You can't live on those pills forever,” Haibara told him once, staring him dead in the eyes like it was the most serious information she had ever told him. He believed her then; he didn't doubt a single word she had said because he knows how serious she is with this specific topic. He knows she wouldn't be affected like he is; their poison wasn't the same. Hers was more advanced, hers was safer, and he was just the test subject of the first one, like a lab rat.

He ponders to himself sometimes, why does he even bother to look for the antidote if he's going to die anyway? It's not like Haibara wants to become an adult again, and he doesn't think he has much time if he keeps looking through every base he finds. Finds, not the hidden ones, not the bases that no one is aware of, not the bases that got blown up after being revealed. He thinks he's lost hope; why even bother when the base that Haibara made the first poison in was gone anyway? Any trace of the apotoxin probably went down with that lab.

His only motive to find the antidote was Ran, but he's noticed her behavior lately; it isn't the same. She doesn't talk to Conan about Shinichi that much anymore, she's been hanging out with Sera a lot more, she's been distant from Shinichi, but when he calls her, she seems fine, like they're friends, like how she talks to Sonoko and Kazuha. He knows his leave has probably affected her a lot; he doesn't blame her. So no, he's not jealous, and he understands where she's coming from, and if he can just stay as close as they were, until he dies at least, he's happy with what he has.

Shinichi hums and thinks that he should probably just stop looking for an antidote; he's going to die in the end anyway. If the side effects don't kill him, then finding the antidote and stealing it probably will. He closes his eyes, dropping his head back to the wall behind him. He can feel a slight sense of heat beneath his eyelids; it burns a bit, making his eyes tear up on their own, and he wipes them with his sleeve, letting out a heavy cough that he muffled into his elbow because he can not be heard, not here.

It's cold. He tugs at the sleeves of his jacket, slipping his hands into his pockets, and just decides to rest a bit until KID is back; it shouldn't take that long. Shinichi lets out a low breath, pressing his face into his already pulled-up knees. He lets out low yet heavy breaths because everything hurts, and before he could realize it, he's slipped into a light sleep.

-

KID slipped back behind the fake wall, his footsteps as light as ever, landing directly where Tantei-kun was. He furrows his eyebrows, looking down at the boy on the floor, all tucked away in a corner. He crouches down to tap his shoulder, but Tantei-kun doesn't move, and he's breathing heavily to the point that KID can hear it when he's right in front of him.

He doesn't know what to do, and there's a slight hint of worry visible on his face, going off like sirens and alarms in his brain; he's confused. Tantei-kun would never let his guard down in a place like this, especially in a place like this, not to the point where he falls asleep, from what KID has guessed at least. He moves, lifting Tantei-kun's chin up enough with a gloved hand, and his guesses are proven right when the boy is panting softly, eyes closed, shivering even, and he's definitely not okay.

KID doesn't need any more hints; he shuffles around a bit, checking outside if the space in the hallway is clear as he picks up Tantei-kun in his arms, keeping the boy's head on his shoulder, and he stills for a moment, glancing down at him with a worried look. Tantei-kun's skin is feverish; he can feel it against his neck and jaw, and he frowns, but he stays focused on getting them out, keeping his arms secure around Tantei-kun before he makes a run for it.

He's darting for the nearest window, the fake wall retracted back into its place, and his steps are light despite him running. KID jumps for the window, pressing the detonator to the explosives he's planted around the place during the few hours he’s been there, and he quickly activates his glider, holding Tantei-kun as secure as his arms would let him, as if for dear life, and he’s in relief once he’s back in the cool autumn breeze, the heat of any explosions all too far from him.

KID knows his rules; he's not the type to hurt people; he didn't ever intend to hurt anyone, and he doesn't want to, but the line was crossed when he knew everything that happened to Tantei-kun, and he's been taking action about that for the past year now. Slowly, base by base, through all the labs he could find, searching for any information about a poison made up of letters and numbers, for the contents of it, for the first test subject being Kudo Shinichi, but nothing.

And he made sure that every one of those bases was destroyed and turned to ashes so that he wouldn't have to go back to them ever again. They were reported on the news; he's seen it, but he didn't show a hint of guilt, he didn't feel any of it, and no one ever knew that the great Kaitou KID was the one who caused them, not even Jii knew about them, and he wasn't going to let the older man find out any time soon because he did not need Jii to worry about him even more than he already does.

When KID found out the main part of the Black Organization was to be taken down by Tantei-kun and his connections of people from all around the world, he paused his search through bases, keeping his eyes on the news or trying to get any more hints about it from the detective whenever they could meet after heists or so. He knew the cops would be there on the day of the takedown, but he followed around either way, staying mostly in the shadows and taking out anyone who got into Tantei-kun's way, because he couldn't have him get reckless and get hurt at the same time; he wouldn't let that happen.

When he found Tantei-kun after that, hurt and looking as dull as ever, even after that takedown, he just knew that the little detective didn’t find what he was looking for, he knew that look too well; it represented his own expression when he first started his search for Pandora and failed on the first time. He’s gotten over that now, his heists were like a hobby he enjoys now, even after finding the gem all the way in France and destroying, but it was fun for him. It was fun messing with the task force, and especially fun messing with Hakuba, and it was fun meeting Tantei-kun after every heist.

He knew Tantei-kun still had a long way to get to the point where he was, it took KID a few months to be so nonchalant if he finds out that the gem he stole at the heist wasn’t Pandora, but Tantei-kun had it hard because he prepared everything and planned everything to be able to get the antidote for the poison and ending up with nothing. From then on, KID picked up his search through the bases he could find again; he spotted Tantei-kun doing the same a few weeks later, probably after all of his injuries were healed and the pressure of things was off him. 

KID’s attention is drifted away from his thoughts by the feeling of a movement against him, and he cautiously lands onto a high rooftop once he thinks he’s at a far distance from sirens of fire trucks and police cars that were approaching the base at the report of a fire. He looks down at Tantei-kun, sitting on the roof, in a spot behind a heater so that the detective doesn’t get too cold; he’s already shivering enough, he can’t have that. He digs through his pockets and moves his fingers around at least ten of them before he slips out a bottle, taking a pill out between his fingers, and he immediately slips it between Tantei-kun’s lips, who takes it without a single thought.

The tip of his glove finds its place between his teeth, sliding the material off his hand and pressing his palm to Tantei-kun’s forehead, hissing at how high his fever was. He ponders for a moment, not sure where to take him. 

He can’t exactly go to a doctor like this; he could easily disguise himself as someone, but any of the medical information about Tantei-kun would be tough, and considering most of it could be fake, he can’t risk guessing things. He doesn’t know if he should go to that detective agency; if Tantei-kun was out right now, then miss Mouri probably doesn’t know that he’s not home, since it was way past midnight, he can’t just take him there. KID’s only conclusion is the house with that professor and the smart girl, they were there with Tantei-kun after the takedown. Surely they know all about it, surely they have an explanation for the sudden fever and paleness on the detective’s face.

Tantei-kun doesn’t even say a word, and he’s out again. Concern is visible on KID’s face, and he immediately moves to dress the detective in something warmer, which so happens to be that black hoodie he uses as street clothes when he wants to move around without suspicion. He doesn't care for that right now; he just needs to get Tantei-kun somewhere safe and get answers. 

He’s off the roof immediately, handling his glider with one hand and directing it towards Beika Town, 2nd Block. He sends a quick glance towards the direction of the blown-up base they were at just minutes ago, it seems distracting enough, nobody is there to notice The Kaitou KID flying in a certain direction with a child in arms.

-

Shinichi is up with a gasp, sitting up immediately in bed and looking around the room. His room, the one in his house, is in Shinichi's bed, not Conan's. He's in the shirt he was wearing under his jacket earlier, drenched in sweat, his glasses are off and placed on the nightstand; there's a bowl filled with water there too, a cloth floating in the liquid. 

His eyes move across the room; there's a black hoodie draped over the chair at his desk, definitely not his. His jacket is on the edge of the bed, he hums, reaching for it, feeling that late morning autumn chill and... morning? He doesn't remember going back home or falling asleep in general, he would've thought that Haibara and Agasa-hakase were the ones who went to search for him, but then recalled they went on a camp trip with the kids.

“You woke up? I thought you'd stay till evening." A voice speaks at the entrance of the room, his head immediately snaps towards it, and he reaches to fire his watchgun but is met with the skin of his wrist instead, looking up cautiously to find KID sat at the chair of his desk, the said watch dangling from his fingers, and the most KID-like shark-like grin ever bright on his face.

Shinichi noticed KID doesn't have his cape or top hat on, and his suit is missing its jacket, sleeves partially rolled up. His monocle is still on, and his hair is probably messier than it usually is, hiding his eyes from view. The thief tilts his head to the side when Shinichi stares too long, his grin still plastered, and he feels like teasing the detective. “Do you think I'm that handsome, Tantei-kun?” 

Shinichi opens his mouth to speak, but no words come out, and he closes it again. He needs to think first, to remember what happened a few hours ago -last night?- KID seems to notice his thoughts, because the thief simply stands up, stepping over to the bed, tugging one of his gloves off, and pressing the back of his hand under a mess of hair and to Shinichi's forehead. 

“Hmm… fever's a bit better." KID hummed, moving his hand away, slipping his glove back on, and sitting at the edge of the bed. Shinichi still feels lost in his head, he thinks— no- he knows something’s wrong. A hand moves up, holding his head as he leans back against the headboard of the bed, staring above KID’s head at the ceiling, and he feels his eyes hazy, his words aren’t progressing right in his brain. Did the medicine Haibara made for him not work last night? That’s no good for him, it was the only thing making his sickness subside to a bearable level.

His eyes move down and meet KID's; they’re a color he likes, a dark blue, darker than his eye color, he thinks. He wonders why KID had his guard down like this, it felt weird. He’s never seen the thief so relaxed before, not that there was ever a chance, he always met KID at a heist or so, snipers coming for his life are always there, and the task force is always chasing after him during those, but the thief always kept his movements gracious in a way. Shinichi doesn’t know how he does it, he doesn’t think he’s going to get a straight answer if he asks.

“Tantei-kun, do you still feel sick?” KID called out. Shinichi shifts his attention again with a hum, letting his head nod once, and he closes his eyes, trying to ignore the slight heat beneath his eyelids. He furrows his eyebrows as he thinks... Black Org base, met with KID, got saved from being caught, KID left, felt sick, took the pill… that’s it. He must’ve passed out after that, he feels the need to jolt up and rethink his life choices about that, but his body wouldn’t let him. 

He could’ve been caught, he could’ve been killed, so many things could’ve happened, and he really doesn’t want to name all of the possibilities. Something’s itching at him in the back of his head, screaming at him for putting his guard down in a place like that, especially in a place like that. Shinichi doesn’t know what would happen if he ever told Haibara what happened. He didn’t even get to check the base for any information, he’s so stupid, he could’ve at least—

He feels someone’s breathing close to his face, and it makes him open his eyes halfway, meeting KID’s gaze that’s all too close to him, and he seems to be checking for something that wasn’t really a fever because KID wasn’t necessary touching him to even check for it. Shinichi lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding when the thief backs away a bit, and he watches with wary eyes at how his figure moves around the room in a way that’s almost memorized, and it feels like he knows the place more than Shinichi does. 

KID is back by the bedside, placing some of Shinichi’s childhood clothes by his legs, a silent motion to change, which was very much needed and appreciated. He felt sticky and sweaty, it wasn’t really a good feeling. He needed one long shower and some food, that should be good for now. He’d return to the agency later in the evening. He told Ran that he was going on that camp trip with them anyway, not that he did. He was getting too used to lying to her lately. He knows it’s for her safety, but for two years now... it feels miserable, he doesn’t want her always waiting for him.

He slides off the bed with a nod to KID, taking the clothes and padding over to the bathroom across the hall. The floor feels oddly cold against his feet, he thinks his fever is just acting up or something. He doesn’t really like being sick like this, and if the medicines Haibara made for him weren’t working now, he thinks he has to expect the worst, as well as a whole round of tests from Haibara.

Shinichi steps into the shower, tosses the new clothes on the closed toilet lid, and turns on the water, a medium temperature, and he just lets it fall against his skin. He just stands still, letting his thoughts wander for who knows how long. He needs to do something about the fact that the pills Haibara had made for him stopped working, he's been going to too many doctors, and they're doing more tests and scans than Haibara has ever done on him. But all the results come out as healthy.

Haibara told him his body cells are destroying themselves, apparently the doctors can't see that, it's not supposed to show, the poison wasn't made to be noticed. 

He thinks about Ran, he has to tell her about this some time soon, he has to say it over the phone, even if that would be insensitive to her. She doesn't deserve that after all the pain he's caused her, but he doesnt have a choice. She was always there for him, even when he didn’t tell her things. But so many things have changed now.

He’s noticed changes, she’s been calling him lately as normal, she tells him she misses him as normal, but she talks about different things these days, mostly about her outings with the girls, or sometimes about the cases her dad runs into, other times about Conan and how he reminds her of Shinichi. 

He’s also seen her go out with Sera a lot more latley, Shinichi thinks it’s nice, he’s glad she’s happy and smiling around others more than before. She doesn’t cry much anymore, it makes him feel better that he's not causing her pain anymore.

Shinichi steps out of the shower after that, he feels a bit better now, not sticky anymore. He moves around the bathroom, quickly drying himself and putting on the clean clothes KID got him, drying his hair one last time with a smaller towel before placing it around his neck, letting it sit on his shoulders. 

He moves to the sink, grabbing a toothbrush from the drawer under the counter and brushes his teeth. He can look up in the mirror now, just enough to meet his own eyes, and he doesn’t need to grab a chair to reach the sink anymore, although he still uses a stool when he fixes his hair or reaches for anything behind the mirror cabinet. 

It still strikes him when he realizes he’s grown for two years as Conan; he’s eight now, he can almost reach the floor when sitting on the edge of his bed, and he can reach the sink at the agency if he wants to ever fill a glass of water, Kogoro can’t pick him up and throw him around the same anymore, and he’s a bit faster now, they’re all advantages in their own way. It’s different, it’s a bit weird, but he tries to enjoy it while it lasts. 

He’s dying sooner than he thought he would anyway, with his body cells destroying themselves slowly, as they have been for two years now, and the only thing subsiding that was not working anymore, he’s definitely going to be gone soon. Haibara said that, and Haibara is mostly right in what she says, if not always. 

Shinichi should really make Conan leave Japan for good.

He steps out of the bathroom with a yawn, turning off the lights behind him and walking back to his room, tossing the towel that was around his neck over the edge of the bed, and looks around. The window is left open... KID left, there's a tray of food at the desk. He hums at that, looking out the window, and a small smile tugs at his lips when he sees a certain yellow car driving in front of his house and over to the professor’s to park, so he simply shuts the window and moves out of the room to meet them and have one hell of a talk with Haibara. Breakfast can wait.

-

“I’m back!” Shinichi calls out, as cheerful as he can get, closing the door to the agency behind him, finding Kogoro-ojisan asleep on the couch, snoring loudly, as usual. He hums, moving over to the desk and sitting on the chair there, simply staring out of the window, spinning himself a few times because he doesn’t know what to do. There’s a lot on his mind; he can’t go talk to someone about it. Hattori wouldn’t get it, and he doesn’t want to tell him about it yet. Haibara? He was just there with her, she’s the one who told him all of it, and Agasa-hakase was there too. 

That leaves his parents from the ones who know, from the ones he’s close to, at least. He can’t tell them he’s going to die, he doesn’t want to see his mother’s reaction to that, the thought of it makes him frown. She’d come back all the way from wherever she was right now, and she’d be worried sick, and he doesn’t want to stress her. 

Why does everyone end up being stressed because of him? It makes his head hurt, he doesn’t need any more people in pain, and he curses under his breath at the reasons why he’s always involved in a problem. 

KID knows too. He realizes, biting at his bottom lip as he stares out of the window again, he doesn't want to tell KID either, but it felt like the thief already knew what was on his mind. He's already seen him sick and even took care of him for a whole night, how could he not know?

He sighs, staring back outside again, spotting Ran across the street with Sonoko and Sera, before the three girls wave each other off and go their separate ways. Good, Shinichi thinks, he really doesn't want to deal with acting extra childish right now, Sera already suspects him enough.

He walks out of the agency and to the apartment above it, kicking off his shoes and taking them to his room, placing them down by his bed before he goes to his desk, grabbing his school work to finish it. Shinichi lazily traces along lines to practice his Japanese, answering math questions with his eyes closed if he could, and yawning by the time he gets to his science homework. 

He heard Ran entering, but she didn't come in to check on him, she seemed to be on the phone and didn't notice that he was home. He doesn't blame her, he's the one who put his shoes out of sight. 

He pokes his head out of his room a while later, spotting the kitchen lights open, and he hums. Whatever she's making, it smells good, and his curiosity gets the best of him because he slides over to the kitchen to see what she's doing.

“Oh, Conan-kun, you're back! How was your camp trip with hakase and your friends?” Ran asks, ruffling his hair affectionately as she hangs up on the phone, putting it on the counter before she moves to what was on the stove. She seems to be in a good mood, that's nice, it's been a while since that has happened.

“It was good, Agasa-hakase caught a lot of fish, he even had to bring most of them back here!” He said in a cheerful tone, recalling what the kids told him about the trip and how they were ranting about it with excitement. Ran hums in return to his statement, nodding to herself as she tasted what she was making, then adding a few spices. He's too curious for his own good, and he can't stop himself from asking. “What're you cooking, Ran-neechan?”

“Just curry. I haven't made that in a while, and I know you like it!” Ran smiled, and Conan hummed in delight, pulling himself up to sit on the kitchen counter, just because he can do that now. He couldn't do so before, he had to get a stool and stand on it whenever he wanted to watch Ran cook, and she always used to get so worried if she ever made him sit on the counter, but now she let him, and he was happy with that.

“Kogoro-ojisan is gonna complain, he just had it yesterday because you weren’t home,” Shinichi snickered as he pointed to the pot on the stove and she just shrugged, both of them aware that he'd probably go out to eat with a group of friends over a game of Mahjong or something. It became a weekly routine over time, it was fine, Shinichi didn't mind. The only annoying thing is Ran being called to get her father from wherever they were playing.

“Anything else about the camp trip?” Ran changed the topic, and Shinichi hummed, recalling the other details that the kids told him and just repeating them to her. Like how the kids found an old tree house, or how Haibara made some really good sauce to go with the fish Agasa-hakase made, or how Genta found a paper thinking it was a treasure map only for Agasa-hakase to tell them that it was a tourist guide where the previous owner probably X-marked the places they wanted to visit.

“What did you do this morning, Ran-neechan?” Shinichi asked a moment later when the kitchen fell silent, watching her ponder for a moment on what to tell him. He got even more curious, but relaxed back again with a chuckle when Ran just laughed and brushed it off as something Conan wouldn’t be interested in, and she was right.

“We went to the mall because Sonoko wanted new outfits. Kyogoku-san is coming back to Japan in a week or so,” Ran explained as she made their bowls of food, placing them on a tray before nudging her head over to the sitting room so they could eat. Shinichi nodded, hopping off the counter and trailing after her. 

-

“The number you're trying to call is currently unavailable—” He hangs up, huffing as he leans against the window and taps his fingers along the screen to redial the contact once again, but it sends him to voice mail right away this time, and he huffs, putting his phone to his ear. If she's busy now, she could at least see the message later, he tells himself.

“Hey, kaa-san. Please call me as soon as you can, it's a bit urgent." He sends the voicemail, preventing himself from letting out a sharp cough before he shuts his phone. His lungs were starting to act up again, he had already coughed up blood this morning. That wasn't too fun, it made his throat feel like it was burning. 

Luckily for him, Ran was out once again, so he didn't have to worry about her knowing, for now at least. He made some toast for breakfast, then took some cough syrup a doctor prescribed to him once. If he can't have Haibara's medicine anymore, until she makes a new one at least, he might as well treat this sickness as if it's a normal cold. 

Shinichi drops on the couch in the agency. Kogoro-ojisan is still asleep upstairs, he should wake him up soon, it's already nine. Something doesn't let him, and his body feels too sore to move or do anything right now, so he just resorts to switching on the TV and watching the news.

A Kaitou KID heist note pops up on the screen. Shinichi reaches for his phone on the coffee table, snaps a quick photo of it, and stares at the screen, the TV running in the background but mostly ignored as he starts analyzing the words. They sound like poetry, it makes Shinichi hum. 

There are three sentences that catch his attention, and there's a pattern in the words, and he furrows his eyebrows to read them out loud, but his vision gets a bit blurry, and he can't get himself to try and figure out the note. The cops will have some hell of a time if Kogoro-ojisan is asked to figure it out.

His phone buzzes, it makes him gasp and sit up almost immediately in surprise, and he reaches to hold his head that starts spinning with the sudden movement. Shinichi glances down at the screen, and he sighs, answers the call, and presses the phone to his ears. 

“Shin-chan, what's wrong?” His mother's voice asks immediately, and he lays back down on the couch, closing his eyes and dropping his arm over them to block the lights that were slowly burning his vision. His mom sounds worried, it makes him frown. He always has to worry someone, doesn't he?

“Kaa-san, when's the nearest time you can come back to Japan?” Shinichi asks, and there’s still that pounding in his head, it makes him groan slightly. He can hear keyboard noises on the other side of the line, maybe she’s checking her schedule for the next while, or maybe she’s checking any available tickets she can book to come over soon.

“What’s the reason, Shin?” His mom’s voice is low, maintained, and serious even, unlike her usually bright tone. He frowns at that, he can’t even keep his own mother from worrying nonstop. Shinichi sighs upon hearing a sharp click of a keyboard and movement in the back, he doesn’t question it and guesses that his mother is probably in a hotel room or something.

“I might die soon, Kaa-san... sooner than I thought." Shinichi murmured, peeking his head over the back of the couch when he hears a shuffling outside the agency. He murmurs an excuse to his mom, but he doesn't hang up as he opens the door, and finds a sleepy Mouri outside, fixing his suit with a yawn before he stumbles into the agency and over to his office chair.

Shinichi takes that as a cue to leave, rushing up the stairs and into the apartment, putting his phone back to his ear, balancing it against his shoulder as he opens the door and makes his way through. His mother is still silent, that concerns him.

“Kaa-san?” He's about to start, but there's more shuffling before he hears a sharp zip of a bag. 

“I'll be there in exactly fifteen hours, Shin." His mom's voice is as serious as it gets before the line is off, and he huffs, tosses his phone on his bed, and rubs his eyes with the heels of his hands as he moves to lay down, a yawn leaving him. His phone is ringing again, and he answers without looking at the contact, his answer would just depend on whose voice he hears.

“Why did your mother call me worried?” Haibara's voice is sharp, it bothers him slightly. He doesn't like how he's questioned about every move he makes, he already told Haibara he'd do this, just not... when. 

“Because Edogawa Conan is going to leave Japan." Shinichi's words are quiet, like his statement was the most simple thing ever, but both of them knew it wasn't, and both of them were aware that there were so many steps behind that one sentence.

-

Edogawa Fumiyo is standing at the door of the agency, Conan's standing opposite her, his suitcase behind him, he feels dull. His mom is doing that whole parent check-up, making sure there wasn't a fever, and even looking at his throat as if she knew how doctor work happened. 

Ran hugs him tight and says that she'll miss him, he mutters that back too, staring blankly over her shoulder. Kogoro-ojisan is standing there quietly, he seems to not know what to say, so Shinichi just gives him a little smile, because even though the man was bothersome at times, there were still fun moments he had with him. 

The older detective seems assured at Shinichi's gesture and smiles back, stepping forward and ruffling his hair, as if to say “I might miss you, brat” or anything among those lines, and Shinichi is fine with that.

He only jumps when he hears a group screaming and crying behind him before he's tackled to the ground. Ayumi is crying over him, saying she'd miss him. Genta and Mitsuhiko are trying to play tough, but they're also tugging at him and asking why he's leaving so suddenly. He spots Haibara there too, her hands tucked in her pockets as she stands beside the door. She gives him a single nod when her eyes meet his, and she steps out with that.

Hattori called earlier that day too, Shinichi never told him his plan anyway, so it's expected he'd believe the news that came out. He asked earlier if there was a trick to all this, and Shinichi answered with all honesty, “Edogawa Conan is leaving for good,” and that seemed to be enough for Heiji to understand what he meant.

There were two possibilities to the words. Either Conan leaves, and Shinichi comes back. Or Conan dies, and so does Shinichi. The second one is more likely than the first.

Agasa-hakase drove them to the airport, the kids insisted on coming along as well, screaming about how they'd miss him as he stepped into the airport after his mother. He waved them off one last time before stepping into the moving doors and sitting beside the restroom, waiting for his mother to come out.

“Nice, Shin-chan?” Kudo Yukiko talks this time, and Shinichi hums with a nod, eyeing her new clothes and giving her a quick thumbs-up. He slides off the suitcase he was sitting on, holding his hand to his chest as he lets out a sharp cough.

“I'm sorry to have got you here so suddenly, Kaa-san. I'll be going now, yeah?” Shinichi mumbled, a hand placed to his chest, rubbing there slightly with the heel of his hand as if to sooth the area. His mother's face is worried again, and she crouches down to his level. 

“I'll get you a taxi." She talks before he has the chance to say anything more; he silently motions to his skateboard, and she motions to his suitcase back. Shinichi curses at that, if only the kids didn't insist on coming with, he could've gone home right away.

“Kaa-san.” Shinichi looks up to her, she seems worried, not even her acting is covering it enough, and when she meets his eyes, the poker face she has on breaks even more, and she throws her arms around him, her face pressed into his neck. 

“Please don't die, Shinichi." Her words are desperate, he frowns, patting her shoulder slightly before letting out a sigh. He has already told her before, and his silence repeats the words all over again to her.

“The medicines aren't working... We don't know what was in the original poison to make the right antidote. The longer I stay, the worse it'll get until  death." His words were harsh, he realizes that the more he recalls them. 

There's a call for a flight to Hawaii, he sighs at that. Shinichi moves, tightening his hug around his mother for a few more moments before he loosens, he doesn't make his usual dramatic reactions when his mother presses a kiss to his cheek, and she stands up, pressing the corner of her napkin to her eyes lightly to not smudge the eye makeup she has on.

“Take care, Kaa-san. Tell Tou-san I liked his most recent work." Shinichi mutters, taking off his glasses before grabbing his suitcase and skateboard and waving her off. 

He stays outside the airport for a few more moments, it feels too slow to be just an hour, and the flight that Edogawa Conan should've left on catches his eye. Shinichi sighs, and he calls for a taxi, asking to go to Beika Town, 2nd Block.

-

“Fever's up again.” Haibara's voice talks in his daze of clouded sounds, and everything's moving around him in swirls and circles. He feels nausea all of a sudden and jolts up. Haibara and Agasa-hakase seem too shocked by the sudden movement as he rushes to the bathroom and drops by the toilet seat.

His head is spinning, he throws up food he never ate, and he coughs harshly when he's done, his vision is blurry, and he sees red in a mix of greens, and he heaves at that, dropping weakly on the bathroom floor, wiping his mouth with the napkin someone hands him, and there's arms around him, carrying him back to bed, Agasa-hakase. A glass is pressed to his lips and tilted up. He sips water, his eyes drifting off to the hand holding it, Haibara.

“Kudo-kun,” her voice starts. He closes his eyes, nodding once to let him know he can hear her. She says something else; he knits his eyebrows at it, doesn't quite catch what she says, and he opens his eyes again to let her know he didn't catch what she says, but a spoonful of something presses into his mouth, and he wants to gag at the taste of medicine but doesn't have the energy to do so.

“Hakase! Make a bath, quick!” Haibara gasps, and she's tugging off his jacket and sweater, leaving him in just the light shirt he was wearing underneath, and he doesn't have any energy to protest against her. There's a cool cloth pressed to his forehead, and he's moved to sip more water.

Haibara looks worried; he hates it. He was supposed to be the one who was there for her, for ages he's been trying to keep her safe, and when he finally got rid of what was threatening her, he had to worry her like this. Shinichi was a curse.

The rest of that night was a fever dream, he was moved and given more sips of water than he remembers, and if he thinks hard enough, he was placed in a lukewarm bath for a good while until he was finally redressed and in his bed again. The sheets weren't sweaty like they were before, he guesses that maybe Haibara changed him while Hakase was with him in the bathroom.

It's quiet for the rest of the night, he doesn't hear any sounds, and his room is dark, the only movement there were his curtains because the windows were so very slightly open. He feels drowsy, somewhere between awake and sleep, he can hear murmuring somewhere, can't pinpoint what the talking is about, and his head hurts if he tries to focus too much on it.

He shuts his eyes and feels a slight burning in his eyelids. He thinks the medicine he was given earlier was starting to work, he’s feeling rather sleepy, he’s not rejecting it for once.

-

He's sitting in the living room, sipping at some hot lemon and honey, the news turned on the TV. There was another one of those explosions again, a whole laboratory was blown up by an unknown. Haibara said that was one of the Black Organization's many labs again, and he's starting to suspect that someone is following around the hints that'd lead to anything related to the Organization even after the main branch's takedown.

Shinichi mailed Akai about it earlier, he answered in a very late message about the FBI not having anything to do with those and how he should just leave it to the Japanese Police. So he messaged Rei and still got the same answer: they had no involvement. What possible third party was after the Black Organization?

He decided not to think too hard about it; there was a Kaitou KID heist later that night, and since he couldn't go to attend, he spent that morning solving the note. Although it was sent a week prior, Shinichi didn't have time to figure it out because he's been all too busy with making Conan leave Japan or just sick to even get out of bed. He was slightly better today.

That night, he turned on the news channel again, grinning to himself when he realized that he figured out the time and place perfectly, the news about it starting the moment he clicked on the channel, and he found KID's introduction cool this time, appearing at the top of a pointed roof of a museum and just standing on it like it was a flat surface.

He fell asleep half way through, the medicine he had an alarm for kicking in. Haibara had even barged into the house to make sure he took it; Shinichi didn't mind, assuring her that he took it and showing her the empty packet of pills. She seemed pleased with that.

Shinichi only woke up later with a gasp, his eyes wide, and he blindly reached around for his anesthetic watch, holding it up to the figure standing at his burst open window. KID? He blinks a few times, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, looking around to realize that he'd been moved to his bedroom instead of where he was watching TV.

“Tantei-kun!” KID gasps, rushing over to the bed immediately and looking over Shinichi as if to make sure he was alive or something. The thief seemed worried, tossing off his glove and feeling over his skin to check if he had a fever, but there wasn't any.

“K-KID, I'm fine." Shinichi mutters out, sitting up right, and the thief sits back, not seeming all too convinced by his words, but he doesn't say anything out loud and sucks in a deep breath.

“Why weren't you at the heist?” KID speaks slowly, searching Shinichi's face for any sign of lies or something similar, but there's nothing, and the worry is visible on him, breaking through his usually hard poker face.

“I made Edogawa Conan leave Japan fully, so I really can't,” Shinichi shrugged, looking up at KID, who seemed to have a switch turned off in his mind, like it all clicked together in his head.

“Can't you even disguise, Tantei-kun?” KID has that shark-grin again, and he's leaning all too close to Shinichi's face; it makes the detective scoff slightly and shake his head.

“I'm not you; it's not easy for me." Shinichi muttered back, and KID hummed, a prideful expression on his face that almost said, “Oh, why thank you, my Tantei-kun, but I already know you could never be like me” and a slight swish of his hand as if to act shy when he wasn't.

“You did in Singapore, didn't you? I thought you looked quite adorable, Tantei-kun,” the thief snickers, and Shinichi rolls his eyes, holding himself back from making a comment as his gaze shifts a little bit. 

“Not like I had a choice, you forced me into that situation.” Shinichi nudges KID away from him, earning some mocking coo from the thief and then a laugh. The thief looks like he has something to say. Shinichi raises an eyebrow at him, as if to make him talk. 

“Tantei-kun, please don’t take too long coming back... I can’t deal with Tantei-san anymore." KID is pleading, there’s a slight hint of teasing and mockery in his tone, but he seems serious and pained at the same time. Shinichi laughs at that, looking up to the thief, his so-called hurting is not affecting the detective one bit.

“What’d he do?” Shinichi asks, a grin on his face as he watches KID fall back dramatically on the mattress so that his upper half is lying down, legs just dangling off the bed. Shinichi smiles as KID starts some complaining session about how annoying the blond detective was, and he doesn’t mind, and he just laughs, because for the first time since Conan left, he’s finally talked to someone and joked with them, and for the first time since he made Conan leave, he doesn’t feel locked up and sick.

It’s only later in the night that he realizes how long they’ve been talking for, because Haibara walks into the room, looking at Shinichi with a knit in her eyebrows as if something was wrong, and he moves to look at where KID was, but he was just gone, like he was never there to start with.

“Are you feeling sick again?” Haibara asks, placing her hand to Shinichi's forehead and then his neck, so he shakes his head, says there’s nothing, and she doesn’t seem convinced. There’s a slight raise in her eyebrows after a quiet moment, as if to ask, “Then why the hell are you awake?” and he only replies with his own raise of his eyebrow, a silent motion to say, “Just because I can.”

“Don’t stay up too long, and don’t be stupid; the kids want to go to a park tomorrow, and I won’t be able to take care of you then." Her voice is sharp, almost warning, and she leaves his room with that, closing the door behind her. It makes Shinichi sigh, he doesn’t know if it’s from relief or just him being tired.

He waits for a moment, his eyes darting all over his room because he senses something there, and his senses are almost never wrong. That is only proved further because after a quiet moment, KID’s head is popping out of his closet, looking around the room cautiously before stepping out and poking his head out of the window. 

“That girl is scary,” KID sighs, as if in relief, and he sits back on the edge of Shinichi’s bed again, tossing a card to Shinichi with a grin, as if he found out something he shouldn’t and is now feeling all too giddy about it, and that makes the detective furrow his eyebrows and look down to the card, his face going ever so slightly pale.

“I didn’t know you fancy me that much." KID’s tone is teasing, and he leans forward on the bed, his elbow pressing into the mattress and his head resting on the heel of his hand, all up close to Shinichi, who pushed the thief away with a hand to his face. 

It was an ace of spades, the card was shot at him at one heist. He kept it ever since, for no reason specifically, and when Haibara started coming to his house for checkups more often, he hid it in his closet underneath his clothes, Shinichi’s clothes, Haibara wouldn’t look through those. 

They’re silent for a moment, no words being exchanged, before it’s broken with KID wriggling his eyebrows up at him, and Shinichi laughs, nudging the thief away with his foot, and there’s a weird snicker coming from KID, it sounds like him going “ki ki ki” instead of the normal ones he’s heard, and that just causes Shinichi to laugh even more, before it’s calm again.

“Remember the time… I met you a day earlier than the heist was supposed to be, because I wanted to check the place out, and it turns out you were doing the same.” Shinichi starts fiddling slightly with the card, moving it between his fingers and trying to imitate the way KID flips it around and makes it disappear, but it just falls out instead.

“Which time, Tantei-kun?” KID asks, taking the card that fell and flipping it between his fingers slowly, as if to show Shinichi how to do it, but the detective still gets lost with the way the thief was moving it around so smoothly; his hands were always so gracious; it mesmerizes Shinichi sometimes.

“Not the first time ever, it was when… you planned to steal that fire gem, and we ended up just talking on the roof of that tower,” Shinichi says after a moment, accepting the card back from the thief and trying to imitate the slow action with furrowed eyebrows. The card falls out again, and KID hums at both the action and the statement, moving one hand to fix up the way Shinichi was holding the card, helping him move his fingers around it.

“Yeah, and I got you chocolate, and you said you didn’t like sweets. I was offended, y’know?” KID mutters, his chin still leaning against his hand, tilting his head to the side lightly, and Shinichi scrunches up his nose and leans back when KID’s top hat gets in his face. 

“Remember what you told me then." Shinichi’s voice goes quiet, a slight furrow between his eyebrows as he stares down at the card. He feels KID’s gaze on him, as if he’s finally waiting for that answer he was waiting for.

That night was a year ago, when the side effects of the poison had first started to show and when he first started using one of the medicines. They sat that night, and KID confessed, confessed that he knew Conan was Shinichi for over a year, confessed that he had feelings for Shinichi, and confessed how he’d do anything to help Shinichi in any way he could. 

Shinichi spoke to him calm and slow that night, muttering how he’d accept the confession once he had taken down the Black Organization and was back as Kudo Shinichi once again, and KID nodded at that, agreeing with the condition, and told him he’d wait.

“I don’t want you to wait anymore." Shinichi starts, his hold on the card between his fingers tightening slightly, and he doesn’t meet the thief’s eyes, nor does he move his head in the first place. He can feel KID stiffening a bit beside him, but no words are spoken until he sees the thief tilt his head from the corner of his eye, and it makes him sigh.

“We’ve taken down the organization, and still no antidote. Haibara says I might die soon. So unless I find an antidote, I don’t want you to wait for me. Ran had already waited for too long, and I’m glad she’s moving on and-” He wants to continue whatever words are stuck in his head, but he doesn’t know what to say, and a sigh from KID cuts through his thoughts, and he stares at the blankets of the bed blankly for a moment.

“I’m patient,” KID says, short and simple, like it was the easiest thing in the world. Shinichi’s head snaps up to meet the thief’s eyes, only to find him standing at Shinichi’s windowsill, one gloved hand holding at the brim of his hat. “I’ll see you soon, Tantei-kun.” 

And with that, KID was gone in a puff, leaving Shinichi alone in his room, and he groans, feeling annoyed and frustrated, but not at KID, nor was it at himself, and he doesn’t know why everything was so complicated, and he didn’t know why KID was so sure about being patient when Shinichi might die and there wasn’t really a way out of it. 

It’s not like he can go search through bases for the antidote anymore; he was watched all day long by Haibara, and she even came to check on him in the middle of the night to make sure he didn’t go do something reckless. 

So no, he’s not annoyed at KID; he’s more annoyed about how stubborn the thief was, and maybe that’s what his friends always felt when Shinichi was stubborn about something.

-

It’s three days later when he sees KID again, there was another building that exploded in the borders of town, and he was watching that on the news. Agasa-hakase moved his TV to his room so that he doesn’t get out of bed because of how sick he’s been getting lately and so that he doesn't have to open the lights downstairs and alert people that there’s someone in the house, and he got thicker curtains for his room.

KID is panting as he bursts through the window, but not a word leaves his lips as he shuffles around the room and over to Shinichi’s bed, taking his wrist between gloved fingers and placing a small metal item in his palm before closing Shinichi’s hand around it, staring at the detective dead in the eyes before he lets out a small smile, but it wasn’t that usual shark-grin.

“I’ll be waiting, Meitantei,” KID whispers quietly before he disappears in a puff of smoke, and Shinichi’s eyes widen as he stares at the spot the thief was just a few moments ago. He scrunches his nose slightly when he brings up his closed hand to his face because it smells like gunpowder.

Meitantei, KID called him Meitantei, but he’s only called him that as Shinichi, and he only calls him Tantei-kun when he’s stuck in this body, so there has to be something that happened. He opens his hand and stares down at the small USB placed in his palm, and there’s a slight furrow in his eyebrows before his eyes widen.

Haibara walks into the room a little bit later, looking at Shinichi with a raise of her eyebrow as she places a tray of food on the nightstand, stepping beside him and looking at the item in his hand before looking back up to meet his eyes. 

“Kudo-kun, where did you get that?” She asks, nudging him on the shoulder when he simply stared for a moment and didn’t answer her. Shinichi has a slight smile on his face, eyes wide like he’s the happiest person alive, and he looks like he’s about to jump. He moves to face her, placing the USB in her hand before he slides off the bed, sliding his feet into his slippers.

“Let’s make my antidote." He’s happier than ever as he says those words, covering his mouth when a cough leaves him and he pushes Haibara out of his room so they can go to Hakase’s house. Haibara looking back at him with wide eyes, her head snapping back to look at him, and she pauses her movements, doesn’t allow him to push her anymore.

“What do you mean? And where did you get that?” She hisses, and he scoffs, rolling his eyes with a grumble that probably meant “I’ll tell you when we get there” as he nudges her to move again. They’ve always talked silently like that, and Haibara sighs, moving to walk properly on her own without him pushing her.

They leave his house through the back door, moving around the yard and entering Hakase’s through a door opening they made a while ago, back when Haibara started moving back and forth between the two houses. It was convenient at times like these.

"Explain,” Haibara asks as they settle in her lab, Agasa-hakase walking in with a few mugs of coffee and sitting beside Shinichi at the desk. She still has the USB in hand, eyeing it suspiciously, her eyes flickering between the two other people in the room, then back to the item between her hands.

“KID came into my room, gave it to me, then left." Shinichi said, short and simple, it makes Haibara squint. She doesn’t trust Kaitou KID, not one bit, even though she knew that Shinichi and the thief had some weird friends-enemies-rivals bonds. Just because the detective trusted KID doesn’t mean she has to. 

“And how did he get that?” Haibara asks, trying to get Shinichi to see her point of view for once. The detective hums for a moment, furrowing his eyebrows and looking down to the floor, his usual thinking pose coming on as he puts a hand up to hold his chin. It’s quiet for a little while, the only sound in the room being Agasa-hakase’s occasional sips of his coffee. 

“Maybe he was also looking for something to do with the Black Organization, he was there when I was looking through that base while you guys were on that camp trip a while ago,” Shinichi murmured, raising an eyebrow as he spoke. Haibara chokes on her coffee at that, sliding out of her chair and stepping up to Shinichi, stomping right in front of him.

“He was at a base? Are you an idiot or more? What if he’s a part of them and is just tricking you? What if this hacks into everything I have because they still want both me and you dead?” She asks, her voice sharp, eyes wide, and it makes Shinichi blink slightly before he lets out a laugh and shakes his head, because there was no way, it was unbelievable to even think of KID as a Black Org member.

“KID can’t be one of them, the snipers after him are a part of a branch, remember? They were there after the takedown; I saw them on a heist and had them arrested a few months back.” Shinichi reasons, because it didn’t make sense for a branch of the same Organization to go after someone who is also a part of them. He wanted to joke and say that KID doesn’t even wear black and has something against it or so, but he didn’t think it was the right time. 

“Haibara, trust KID, just this once. I don’t want the chance of me getting my normal body back to go at lost just because you were being paranoid about it” Shinichi pleads, looking up to finally meet her eyes as he moves to take a sip of his own coffee, watching her silently drop her shoulders and sigh, moving over to her computer. Shinichi grins.

-

“You’re lucky to have that thief,” Haibara spoke as she heard him enter the lab. She had asked Agasa-hakase to call him over for today, and she spins in her chair to face him, taking a sip of her tea. Shinichi looks tired, sore even, but he has a small smile on his face, as if he was excited for something despite how exhausted he actually was.

“Did you finish it?” He asks, dropping in a nearby chair, a hand holding his head as he shows a slight wince on his face, biting his bottom lip. Haibara nods to his question, deciding to take a few tests before she gives him anything to make sure nothing goes wrong.

“You can take it after this,” she muttered, placing a thermometer underneath his tongue, then shuffling around to measure his blood pressure as well. Shinichi nods, sitting still with his eyes closed, resting his head against the back of his chair to support him. 

There was that pounding in his head again, but he doesn’t voice anything out, opening his eyes slightly when the thermometer in his mouth beeps, and Haibara takes it out to check his temperature, humming when it was a bit moderate, for Shinichi’s recent state, at least. His currently normal temperature was around 38 degrees now, due to the sickness he keeps getting.

“Did you eat earlier?” Haibara asks, and he nods in reply, letting out a low yawn as his eyes drift around the room, focusing on her desk, where something was opened on her computer and a box of something was placed there. Shinichi scrunches his nose at the light prick he feels in his thumb, looking down to see it was just Haibara measuring his blood sugar. 

“Okay, all is good... here." She sighs, shuffling around to her desk again, before placing a single blue pill in his hand. Shinichi stares at it, a grin forming on his face, almost subconscious, and it looks like a certain shark-grin in a way. 

He nods to her, looking to the bathroom door when she nudges her head that way, and he slides off the chair, stepping in and stopping when he finds his clothes, Shinichi’s clothes, sitting on the closed toilet lid. She must’ve asked Agasa-hakase to get them there when he called Shinichi earlier. 

The pill is between his lips, and he swallows with a sip of water. He’s moving to change after that, tossing the smaller clothes in a neat pile in the corner of the bathroom, right behind the door, then slipping on the much bigger sweater and jeans, his body practically vibrating out of excitement because he’s finally going to be back. Shinichi is coming back. 

He feels nothing for a while, simply sitting on the edge of the bathtub, fingers tapping against his face, and he hears Haibara murmur something from the other side of the door, asking if he’s alright, but before he gets the chance to answer, he feels that familiar pulse in his heart and gasps sharply, dropping onto his knees with wide eyes, his right hand clutching at his heart.

“Kudo-kun?” Haibara is calling out for him from the other side of the door; he can’t get himself to answer her, heaving out and breathing heavily, as if he were getting suffocated in a room with little oxygen left. He’s clawing for something to hold onto, his nails scratching weakly against the bathroom tiles before he’s letting out sharp and loud screams.

It hurts, hurts so much more than the times before, and he feels his vision going blurry. He can barely hear Hakase’s voice calling out for him over his screams, and he’s trying so desperately to stay awake so he can make sure that he turned back and that all of this wasn’t just a dream, but there are black dots everywhere, his vision blurry, and he’s out of it with that.

The door opens behind his body once his screams stop and his body stills, Haibara and Agasa-hakase standing there, both with their eyes wide as they see Shinichi’s body dropped limply on the ground, panting softly and covered in sweat. 

-

Shinichi only wakes up a while after, a sharp gasp leaving him as he sits up and looks around. He’s still at Agasa-hakase's house; there’s the smell of something cooking on the stove, and he can hear murmurs from the other room. He can barely make out Haibara’s voice and maybe Hakase’s too, but there’s a third person.

Shinichi stands up weakly, holding onto the nightstand for support, but almost loses his balance when he stands much higher than the bedside table. He gasps as he holds onto the wall for support, looking around the room with sudden wide eyes as he stabilizes himself, eyeing his reflection in the window. 

He stumbles over to the living room, a light cough leaving his lips as he leans against the wall while he walks. Haibara is standing across from him, eyeing him for anything that could be side effects, but he doesn’t think there’s anything wrong. Yeah, he feels a little bit dizzy, but it was mostly fine. 

His gaze shifts along the living room, looking around before his eyes land on Ran, sitting there with a cup of tea placed down in her lap, and she’s already looking at him when he meets her eyes. She’s standing up almost immediately, rushing over to him with hundreds of emotions on her face. He expects a punch or kick once she’s close enough to him, but the little air in his lungs is knocked out when she moves and hugs him tight, her face in his shoulder, and he just relaxes.

“You’re okay” She whispers, almost in relief, and he nods silently, a weak arm moving around her, and he hugs her back, letting his chin sit on her head for a moment and closing his eyes. Shinichi knows things are different now, and they’ve both kind of moved on, but they were still childhood friends, and it didn’t bother him so much if that lovers part didn’t work out between them, she was still his Watson.

“I’d punch you right now, but Ai-chan said you’re sore." A smile plants itself on his lips when she says that, and he hums in a quiet tone that means “oh, I know,” and he doesn’t stop her when she squeezes him too tight with her arms around his chest, although he lets out a groan at that.

“Easy on my patient,” Haibara says, both of them turning to face her. Ran laughs, finally lets go of him, and he feels like he's finally able to breathe again. He follows after the two girls to the living room, sitting on one of the couches and letting out a sigh.

Shinichi knows that as soon as Ran leaves, Haibara will start a whole number of tests on him, he doesn't mind, he knows it's necessary to do all that. All that matters to him right now is that he's back in his body again, and he's never wanted anything more for the past two years.

-

The night wind is cold. Shinichi lets out a visible shiver but tries his best to hold it in, tucking his hands in his pockets. It's been a while since he's been out like this, and it's been a while since he's attended a Kaitou KID heist as Kudo Shinichi, and not just Edogawa Conan. 

He came with Ran, Sonoko, and Sera. Sonoko was so all too excited about seeing KID, and she forced the other three to come along because her uncle was out to bait the thief again, as if that would ever work, but he doesn’t mind, he's wanted to attend a heist for a while now, he hasn’t done so in the past two months or so anyway.

“Kudo-kun, it’s great to see you again! What brings you to Ekoda?” A voice talks from behind him, and it pulls Shinichi out of whatever Sonoko was ranting on about, turning around to meet Hakuba with a hand put out, and Shinichi gives him a nod as a greeting back, shaking his hand firmly.

“Haven’t attended a heist in a long time, so I thought why not,” Shinichi says with a shrug, as it’s the simplest thing in the world, and the blond hums, his gaze shifting around as if he were looking for something, or rather someone. 

“Is Conan-kun not with you? He’s a bright kid." Hakuba asks, tucking his own hands in his pockets, and Shinichi sighs, shaking his head slightly as an answer, only receiving a tilt of the blonde’s head in return, as if asking the reason.

“Conan-kun’s mother came back a few months ago and took him back to the States,” Shinichi recited the same old lie he has told everyone he knows when they ask about it. Ran pointed out that he wasn’t even there at the time, but he laughed it off, reminding her that Shinichi and Conan were sort of cousins.

He waves off to Hakuba and the girls when the time for the heist finally comes, and he slips away to go watch from afar, climbing up the emergency ladder of one of the nearby buildings until he reaches the roof, watching the heist start with KID appearing in the middle of the crowd, his white suit shining bright between the number of people.

He just watches, doesn’t bother to move when KID goes around pranking the task force as usual, and he doesn’t move when he finds out that KID had stolen the gem hidden within the chandelier of the museum's front hall, definitely not falling for the fake gem that was out on display. Shinichi only moves when the thief addresses his departure and disappears with a puff of smoke.

Shinichi is running to the next building, sprinting up the stairs two at a time until he starts feeling all too much fatigue in his thighs, and he huffs when he’s by the door to the roof, dropping to sit at the top of the stairs until his body can move again. He hates this; he used to move better when he was still Conan.

When he’s fine again, he stands up with a sigh, catching his breath and fixing his messed-up suit again before he steps onto the roof, wincing at the sudden cold and tucking his hands tightly into his pockets.

KID is already there, sitting on the edge of the roof with the stolen gem, holding it up under the moonlight like what seems to be out of instinct and sighing before he drops it beside him, stilling when he senses someone else's presence.

“This is getting old, Tantei-san." KID starts, standing up to turn and face Hakuba, who he guessed it was by the larger footsteps, but pauses, and his eyes widen at the sight of a certain detective he hasn't seen in a long time. 

“You got the wrong detective, thief." Shinichi grins, tilting his head to the side while he looks around a bit, leaning against the wall behind him as he waits for a comment from KID, but nothing comes out of him.

Instead, KID is marching towards him like he's seen something he wants to steal, until he's a single step away from Shinichi, and the distance between them is closed before the detective could even say a word. There’s the thief’s arms around him, holding him in a tight hug, something he didn’t think would happen, and he moves to pat KID’s back, but the thief pulls away first.

Shinichi only stiffens after that, eyes wide as he feels a gloved hand cupping his cheek, the other on his side, lips pressed against his, and he stares for a moment, shocked and not expecting the action. He only relaxes a moment after, placing a hand on KID's shoulder.

The thief was oddly warm, in contrast to the cold night, and Shinichi lets out a soft sigh when they part, closing his eyes for a moment. He feels another kiss press against his knuckles before that warmth is gone, and he opens his eyes again, only to see KID nowhere on the roof, a glider spotted not so far away, and a sparkling gem placed by his feet.

The group of task force members are running up to the roof like Shinichi did earlier, barging through the door, and Hakuba, who was leading them, stills upon seeing Shinichi with the stolen gem in hand.

“Kudo-kun?” The blond detective calls out, and Shinichi hums, turning to face the group, placing the gem in Hakuba's hand without a word before leaving the rooftop, trying to ignore the slight heat rising up to his ears and focusing on going back down. 

Shinichi meets with the girls again, tucking his hands into his pockets silently and clearing his throat to get his thoughts right again, but choking when Sonoko is at him, shaking him by the shoulders and yelling at him if he had seen her KID-sama. Oh, how she'd hate him if she ever found out he was kissed by Kaitou KID.

-

He's back to school again, convincing the principal enough to let him sit his exams with everyone else. Shinichi can manage, he's already started studying ever since KID gave him that USB. He didn't want to waste another year of his life just because he was a year or two late in school.

A lot has changed, he doesn't really mind, but he's glad he's back, and he's happy with what he has now. 

The kids seem to like him a lot, they always come over to Agasa-hakase's house after school to meet him, just because he “reminds them of Conan-kun.” He takes it as a compliment since they have the same liking for him as both Shinichi and Conan.

He's mindlessly solving some math homework, yawning as he scribbles calculations on the side and writes down the answers. It wasn't that late yet—a little bit before midnight, he thinks. 

Shinichi's body starts aching, and he winces with a harsh bite on his lower lip, standing up slowly, leaning against the wall as he walks over to his bedside table with stiff movements, letting out a sharp gasp before he collapses onto the bed, a whimper leaving him.

He feels too stiff to move, barely able to grab his medicine, it leaves him heaving as he tries to sit up to reach for it, but it hurts too much to do so, and he can't get himself to get up again to grab his pain relief pills, and his injections were too far in the bathroom, Haibara had to be there to give them to him.

He hears his window creaking open behind him, he can't turn to face whoever is there, but he sees the person's shadow, and he recognizes the figure. KID should be able to help him since he couldn't call Haibara to come get him his medicines right now.

The thief is rushing over to his side, looking over Shinichi's figure with a worried look visible on his face. He doesn't seem to know what to do, but his eyes drift to the bedside table, and he takes the pills Shinichi silently points at. KID nods, leaving the room for a moment.

“There we go,” KID mutters, rushing back to Shinichi's room after grabbing a glass of water, helping the detective take the pills, and allowing him to rest again. The thief's eyes are looking around the room once again for anything that could possibly help out.

“These too?” KID asks, holding up a thick material with a remote attached to it and rushing over when Shinichi stiffly nods, plugging it into a socket near the bed and looking over the detective with a few blinks that said, “What do I do now?” 

Shinichi reaches for the heating pad, tugging it to rest on his lap. KID nods along with the action, securing the material around the detective's thighs and turning it on to a low heat. He doesn't say a word after, simply sitting down at the desk Shinichi was at earlier, glancing at the stacks of papers and books, then back to the bed.

Shinichi only relaxes a while later, the stiffness in his bones fading away until he was finally limp on the bed. KID seems to notice, going over to Shinichi’s side and furrowing his eyebrows, nudging the detective lightly, who hums in return, biting his lower lip as he moves to sit up properly.

“What was that?” KID asks, the same worried look still on his face as he sits down on the bed, the lights closing with a snap of the thief's fingers while he takes his top hat off. 

“My muscles… They stiffen at times and cause spasms in my muscles, and I can’t move because of it. Side effects of the poison and changing the size of my body so many times,” Shinichi explains, appreciating how the room was dark now as he reaches over to the nightstand and takes a sip of the water KID got him earlier.

“Do you know how long it'll last?” KID asks, tapping gloved fingers against the top of his hat. Shinichi thinks he looks gorgeous under the moonlight, especially without the hat on, messy hair everywhere, and it complimented the thief so well.

“Haibara says it's chronic, she wants me to sign in for a proper doctor soon if it doesn't wear off by what she gave me.” Shinichi shrugs with a light wince, moving to massage his shoulder slightly. 

KID doesn't talk for a bit after that, seeming to process the words before letting out a low hum and a nod, as if he meant that it would be good for Shinichi to do so. The detective hummed, sitting back in the bed, his back against the headboard.

“So… Why'd you come over?” Shinichi asked, nudging KID lightly with his foot, and the thief flicked him back. The thief stared off for a moment, as if trying to remember why he came over in the first place after that rush of adrenaline.

“Ah… Can you go out? I wanna take you somewhere,” KID said, turning back to face Shinichi in the dark, who seemed to think about it for a moment, shifting his legs, as if to check if they were moving again properly before nodding once.

“Yeah, I've been holed up here all day, anyway.” Shinichi shrugged, looking over to his desk with books and papers stacked everywhere, turning back to face the thief, only to find him standing up on the windowsill, a hand put out. 

Shinichi sighs out a laugh, shifting to slip on his shoes before taking KID's hand and gasping when he is pulled out into open air. He feels like he's falling, before something tugs him up again, his eyes opening to them flying over his house.

It's the first time in a while that he has flown with KID like this, and it's the first time ever where he has flown with KID as Shinichi and not Conan. It's weird to think about, but KID is carrying him the same as he did when he was still Conan, arms wrapped securely around his waist, holding him up against the thief's chest, he doesn't mind.

Shinichi's nose feels cold in the night wind, he scrunches it up slightly and takes a heavy breath when KID suddenly dips down with the glider. His lungs feel like they're freezing because of the winter air, and he shuts his eyes for a moment, trusting KID completely, only opening them again when they land on a rooftop.

“The clock tower?” Shinichi asked, looking back at KID, who was walking along the roof, hands spread out as if he was doing that for balance when both of them were very much sure that KID didn't need to do that when he walked on thin surfaces or steep places. 

“We first met here, yeah?” KID called out, turning around with a quick spin to face Shinichi again, who was struggling to walk upright on the top part of the roof like the thief did. KID approached him, helping him stand up on the rooftop properly.

Shinichi nodded, looking around through squinted eyes, his hair moving all over his face from the wind, and he moves a hand to push it back, looking over to the back of the clock.

“You tricked everybody into thinking you stole the whole thing,” Shinichi scoffed, leaning against the wall for a little support, sliding down till he sat on the roof. He remembered that night all too well, he was still Shinichi back then, and it was the first and last heist he's ever attended as Shinichi before Conan started attending instead.

“Everyone except you, somehow.” KID rolled his eyes, moving to sit beside Shinichi, his legs crossed beneath him as he turned to face the detective, suddenly holding out a bright red rose within a flick of his wrist.

“What's this for?” Shinichi murmured, accepting the rose and spinning it between two fingers a few times. It looks pretty, he likes it, and he likes how KID is always giving out roses to him. He thinks it's a nice gesture from the thief, not that he'd ever admit it out loud, but he thinks that KID already knows, considering the fact that the thief is always bringing him roses whenever the previous one wilts.

“Nothing, just a thanks.” KID is grinning as he says that, Shinichi can hear it, but he doesn't move his head to face the thief, doesn't let that pride linger in too much or else it'll boost the thief's ego to the moon. 

He's about to ask what it's a thanks for, but the moment he opens his mouth to talk, there's a soft kiss to his cheek, and he can feel that smile against his skin, a genuine smile. 

“A thanks for coming back and for not making me wait for ages.” KID's words are in a hushed whisper against his ear, and it makes Shinichi shiver slightly at the unexpected action. He doesn't mind it, though, he doesn't mind it at all, actually.

The rest of the night is a blur to Shinichi, all he knows is that they stayed at the tower with KID until sunrise. He remembers a few things here and there, but not too much in detail, and he thinks he was half asleep by the time the clock struck three, which was new to Shinichi since he always sleeps late.

Maybe KID put out a sleeping gas, because the last thing he remembers was being picked up again, and suddenly he was at his house, placed neatly on his bed with a note at the nightstand. He doesn't mind, he just goes back to sleep as if he never woke up.

-

He breathes fast, chasing up the stairs of an abandoned building as he uses himself as bait. There are heavy footsteps and an occasional clank of metal right behind him, he guesses it was a knife at first, but then he hears a click of a gun's safety button being turned off, and it makes his eyes widen. Yet he doesn't stop, and he'd never stop.

A trigger is pulled, and a few shots are fired behind him, and he presses himself against the wall when he rushes around a corner, trying to catch his breath, but he feels like his heart is about to burst right out of his chest. He can't die now, not to a serial killer, and definitely not when he promised KID to be there at the next heist. 

There's a clank of metal on metal and a grunt, and then he hears a loud thud of something -no, someone- falling to the ground. He risks it, looking around the corner, and his eyes widen at the sight, the serial killer that was chasing after him now dropped limply on the floor. 

He moves, his eyes flickering around so fast he thinks he's starting to get dizzy. Shinichi steps slowly, approaching the man dropped on the floor, he's about to reach for a silver item glinting in the dark when something grabs him from behind, and he gasps immediately, turning to face who it was with his own gun pulled up to the person's forehead. 

“KID? Are you serious? You scared me,” Shinichi sighs, moving his gun away, tucking it back into the inner pocket of his jacket, and turning back to the serial killer, and plucking out the card from the man's jacket, shifting again to measure his pulse.

“It's just sleeping gas, Meitantei,” KID muttered, leaning over Shinichi's shoulder, hands tucked neatly behind his back after he took the card from the detective and returned it to his pocket. He wouldn't want any trace of Kaitou KID being at a crime scene involved with Kudo Shinichi.

“Why are you here anyway?” Shinichi asked, taking out his phone and sending Takagi-keiji a message to come and arrest the knocked-out killer. He tucks his phone back into his pocket after that, standing up again and facing KID with a raised eyebrow.

“Can't have my dear detective getting chased down by a serial killer while I sit in his house and do nothing.” KID grins, leaning against the wall and flicking his wrist to reveal a rose, as always.

“Why were you at my house?” Shinichi sighs, rolling his eyes as he takes the rose and tucks it into his breast pocket, peeking over the stairs to see Takagi staring back at him from the bottom. The older detective nods, starting to sprint up the stairs after he made sure which floor he had to go to. 

“Why not? I'll see you later, my dear Meitantei,” KID grins, placing a gloved finger under Shinichi's jaw to just grab his attention before disappearing in a puff of smoke, just mere seconds before Takagi climbed up the stairs to the floor they were on, panting heavily as he stopped leaning against the nearest wall for a moment. 

“Did he die?” Takagi-keji asks through gasps for air, grabbing a pair of handcuffs from his jacket’s inner pocket and clicking them around the serial killer's wrist behind him.

“Knocked out.” Shinichi corrects with a shake of his head, looking around the floor for anywhere KID could've gone, because there wasn't a window in the large space. The thief had to be somewhere in the building, but he decided to not make that obvious in case Takagi catches on and starts looking around the building for anyone suspicious.

-

Shinichi's back at his house later in the night, having spent the last few hours finishing up the reports needed for the case, and his body felt like it was burning. He spent about an extra hour before calling for a taxi, the stiffness returning again, and he had to take his pills and wait for their effect to work, and he was thankful the station had a heater. 

Officer Sato was nice enough to let him borrow her own heating pad, one she uses for her back when sitting for long hours in the office. It was a little different than the one he owned, it needed to be manually filled with hot water, unlike his, which worked with electricity, but he made work with it, moving its location every time the previous spot started heating up.

He stumbled into his house, the smell of curry filling his nose as he stepped in, furrowing his eyebrows as he walked further into the house. He would've guessed that it was Agasa-hakase if he hadn't just passed by his place and said hello to him and Haibara just moments earlier. It couldn't be Ran either because she had travelled somewhere for a karate competition, and he was with her until she went on the train earlier today. 

His last option was KID, because his parents were definitely still overseas. He was on a call with his mother in the taxi back from the police station, and she seemed to be in the middle of a loud event at the time.

“Welcome back, Meitantei,” KID's voice says, but the person he sees in front of him is not KID, or maybe it is, but he can't tell. There was no suit, no hat, no monocle, no gloves. Shinichi had to blink back for a moment, eyeing the person in front of him.

“KID?” He asks, and it's mostly a question to himself as he watches the other make two bowls of rice and place them on the counter, placing utensils beside each. 

“Kaito” KID— no, Kaito, corrects him, and it makes Shinichi stammer, wanting to yell out something of confusion but he can find his voice, and the thief in front of him is snickering like he's enjoying it.

“KID- Kaito- What?” Shinichi asks, stepping further into the kitchen until he was face to face with Kaito, who only gives him the usual KID-grin, too perfect for this to be a fake or even a prank.

“What? Since we're kind of a thing, might as well tell you. I knew you were Tantei-kun, didn't I?” Kaito nudged Shinichi in the side with his elbow, wriggling his eyebrows at the tired detective like the tease he was. It makes Shinichi sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose with frustration.

“You're an idiot,” Shinichi mutters, taking off his coat and placing it over one of the couches in the living room. He pretends to be frustrated with Kaito, but there's a visible grin on his face, and he breathes out a laugh when Kaito is walking over to him, a tray of food in one hand, the other balancing two glasses of water impressively. 

“I saved you from starvation, my dear detective,” Kaito teased, placing the items on the coffee table and flopping down on the couch beside Shinichi. He grabs one of the food bowls and a spoon, scooping up some rice and curry, imitating an airplane as he moves it to Shinichi's mouth, who stares unimpressed.

“Leave” Shinichi starts, and before he continues, the spoon is stuffed into his mouth, and Kaito is snickering at the way he pauses and almost chokes. The detective grumbles, holding the spoon in his mouth and taking the bowl from Kaito, leaning back and kicking him lightly.

-

“You always have to ruin our dates, don't you?” Kaito accused with a huff, hands tucked into his pockets as he watched Shinichi lean over the body that had dropped limp onto the table. They were just at a cafe, having a little break after a morning run that Kaito suggested they do.

“Just- shut up” Shinichi grumbled, checking for any pulse, shaking his head at the man's fiancée, tears welling up in her eyes as she clapped a hand over her mouth. Shinichi sighed, pulling out his phone and giving a call to Megure-keibu. He could solve the case, but he wasn't an official police detective, yet.

“Okay, what's next, Meitantei? I'll be a helper,” Kaito decided, pulling out a notepad to write down everything so far. Shinichi chuckled at that, but he appreciated the gesture. It'd definitely be a lot easier without someone writing down everything.

“Well, instant death… it could definitely be poisoning, but it depends if it's from the food or not. Both the victim and his fiancée have the same order, so I'd slightly doubt the fact that it was from the food,” Shinichi thought out loud, moving around the table where the crime happened, looking over to the front entrance of the cafe to make sure that it was still closed with one of the waiters standing in front of it, preventing anyone from exiting. 

“Mm… How do we know it's not natural?” Kaito asked, looking up from the notepad to watch Shinichi take out his phone, clicking photos of the scene from different angles, making sure that everything was clear before he could move anything. 

“Let's find out,” Shinichi muttered, mostly to himself, putting on a pair of gloves he had asked one of the cafe workers for when the man first collapsed. He inspected the man's arms slowly before shifting to lift his body into a proper sitting position, tilting his head up and inspecting his face for anything.

“Bingo” He murmured, noticing the redness in the man's eyes and the slight blue skin around his mouth and under his eyes, it was definitely poison. Shinichi continued inspecting the man further, letting out a sigh as he noticed a rash on the man's skin. Everything leads to poisoning.

“What do we do now?” Kaito asked, stepping carefully next to Shinichi, peeking over the detective's shoulder and letting out a light grimace at the sight. He looked back over to Shinichi, noticing his furrowed eyebrows and stern look. 

“Meitantei?” Kaito blinked, noticing the way Shinichi's eyes flickered all over the space, bringing his hand up to his chin as his usual thinking pose. Kaito knew that the detective was too focused on a conversation going on in his head to listen to anyone else right now.

“What are your relationships with the victim?” Shinichi asked after a long, silent moment, looking over to the three people who were sitting at the table where it happened. Those were the main suspects as of now, unless one of the workers had something against the man.

He listens to each carefully. The first one is the victim's fiancée, Kishi Natsumi, they got engaged a few days ago and were to get married in a few months, having dated for three years now. The second was his coworker, Hori Miwa, who had invited them over for lunch to congratulate them on their engagement. The last one was the victim's brother, Kida Yoshito, who came along because he had interest in the coworker. 

“Can I know where you all were sitting? Don't move anything, just stand behind your seats,” Shinichi requests, coming to an estimation that the poisoning had caused instant death, or at least one within the time that everyone was at the cafe. He was sure it was not one that took effect after hours. It would've shown if it wasn't, but he still had to wait for the cops and the autopsy to make sure.

He watches the three shuffle over to their respective seats, and he resists the urge to put his hand to his chin, just in case he had touched anything that would transfer the poison. Shinichi notices Kaito's stern look at someone, but he doesn't comment, nor does he meet his eyes.

Megure-keibu and Takagi-keiji arrive with their team a while later, taking the body over for an autopsy after making sure Shinichi's photos were good enough. He sighs, slipping off his gloves and sitting back at the table he and Kaito were at earlier while the cops performed a body check over the three suspects for anything that could’ve had the poison.

“You okay, Kaito?” Shinichi asked, looking over to the other, who was doodling something in his notepad now that he had given what he wrote earlier to Takagi. Kaito just grins up at him and shrugs.

“Oh, you know… just my average Sunday, with my favorite detective” Kaito's eyes move back down to his paper again, mindlessly picking up the hot-now cold- chocolate that he had ordered earlier and taking a sip. Shinichi hums and does the same, finishing the last of his coffee as the group of people came back.

Shinichi has a hopeful look in his eyes, but it drops when Takagi shakes his head, signaling that they found nothing. Shinichi blinks once, then twice. It didn't make sense to him, surely there had to be something, and they had the food tested. There were no reactions on it or on any of the silverware.

“I think it’s Hori-san” Kishi-san speaks up, and all heads snap towards her, Shinichi notices the way she was looking down at her engagement ring with broken eyes, more tears welling up in them than before. She’s sensitive, Shinichi notes, but it could also be acting, she’s still a suspect after all. 

“And why is that, Kishi-san?” Shinichi asks before Megure-keibu could start, he steps forward to where the three suspects were sitting away from the crime scene now, taking one of the seats on the round table, all three of them in his view. Hori-san is still staring at the other woman with wide eyes, as if in disbelief.

“My fiancée has been taking her work. I heard him talking about it, both Yoshito and I did,” Kishi-san replies, staring right at Shinichi. He doesn’t make eye contact with her but turns to the brother instead, as if asking for confirmation, and he simply nods in reply. His eyes shift back again to the victim’s coworker, and she looks rather angry now. 

“You could’ve killed him too! I know you liked Kishi-san!” Hori-san says in her defense, pointing at Kida-san, who stands up after she does. Shinichi is quiet, watching their behavior quietly, turning to glance at Megure-keibu once, and he sees the man sigh and murmur something to Takagi-keiji, who nods in reply to whatever he was told and writes something down in his police notebook. 

“So you both have motive,” Shinichi mutters as he sits back, clicking his tongue as he watches the two quiet down and drop back in their seats. They’re all silent now. Shinichi has someone in mind, but he’s not sure, and he doesn’t have any proof of it, yet. 

“Keibu! We got reports from the autopsy.” One of the officers speaks as he runs into the cafe once again, holding a few files in hand, looking between the officers. Shinichi turns in his seat, leaning over the back of it to focus on the words that would be read out. His eyes meet Kaito’s, who once again is staring at someone behind him, definitely one of the suspects. Kaito knows something that he doesn’t, but he won’t say it. The officer starts reading out the reports when Megure-keibu gives him a nod.

“Poison was detected in the victim’s blood sample, leading to his death at least two minutes after being injected. There was a muscle failure in his right thigh where he was injected with it.” Shinichi listens closely, staring down at the floor to focus on the officer’s every word. His eyes move over to the crime scene, imagining each suspect in their seat. The fiancée was on the victim’s right, the brother was on his left, and the coworker sat across. No, he thinks to himself, it can’t be that easy.

“Can I see the belongings again?” Shinichi asks, standing up from his seat all too suddenly, as if something had clicked in his mind. He’s allowed to do so, and he looks over all the items, frowning a bit when he couldn’t find what he guessed would be a way to hide the needle. He tucks his hands into his pocket, stepping over the tapes aligned around the table where the victim was killed. 

“Kudo-kun? What are you doing?” Takagi tilts his head to the side when he notices Shinichi leaning sideways with his head tilted upside down, looking under the tablecloth for a moment before standing upright once again, giving the police detective that grin he used to always give him when he was Conan, purely out of instinct, as he crouches to look under the seats as well. 

“Did any of you leave the table before the victim’s death?” Shinichi asks from where he was crouched down to look under the brother’s chair, standing up when he found nothing, and then moving over to the next seat to do the same. They all furrow their eyebrows for a moment, looking between each other and then back to him, who turns to look back at the group when he doesn’t get an answer right away.

“I went to the toilet,” Hori-san replies, seeming confused by his question, and Shinichi nods for a moment, looking under her seat as well, but yet again, there was nothing. He lets out a sigh, shifting to do the same with the fiancée’s seat as well.

“And I was ordering something extra,” Kida-san said after. Shinichi nods, putting on his gloves again before he picks out a needle from under Kishi-san’s seat, inspecting it for a moment before turning around and showing it to the officer. He sees eyes widening, and Megure-keibu orders for that needle to get inspected as well.

“It was… Kishi-san?” Takagi asks after a moment, blinking in confusion as he watches Shinichi standing up again and walking back to the table with everyone else. Both the brother and the coworker snap their heads towards the fiancée, as if in disbelief. Shinichi shakes his head, tucking his hands in his pocket, his eyes going to Kaito once again, watching as the magician meets his eyes over his mug of a newly ordered hot chocolate.

“Then who?” Megure-keibu asks, all of them turning to Shinichi, who grins in return as he steps over to Kaito, signaling that he needs a moment. The magician furrows his eyebrows, putting his mug down on its coaster as Shinichi leans over to him at the table.

“What? Go do your detective show, I’m not a part of this,” Kaito mutters, and Shinichi shakes his head, a stern look on his face as he meets the others eyes. He needs to know how Kaito figured it out from the very start and just kept it to himself, without even needing to look for proof or anything. 

“You know something that I don’t,” Shinichi whispers back quietly, placing one hand on the table for balance, and he doesn’t move when Kaito arches an eyebrow at him and leans back in his seat, that KID-grin on his face, and Shinichi hates how he doesn’t know something that could’ve helped or acted as proof from the start, and he doesn’t like it when he misses things and details because he shouldn’t. 

Kaito seems to notice that stern look in Shinichi’s eyes, he knows how the detective gets, he knows he could get frustrated with himself when he doesn’t find something he should. So Kaito decided to not tease him about it, and he’s fine with telling him what he saw for the sake of this case to be closed so that they could continue with their day.

“Hori-san. She kept rubbing her fingers on those disposable napkins, there’s a slight redness on her fingertips. She probably tried to dilute the poison before it got absorbed into her skin, but she hides it well.” Kaito mutters, and he doesn’t miss it when Shinichi’s eyes widen as if everything clicked together in his head. He had everything figured out already, all that was needed was proof of it, and there it was. Kaito knew all this time and expected Shinichi to catch on to it when he saw Hori-san moving. 

Shinichi nods, giving Kaito a soft smile, as if thanking him for the little hint, and the magician only hums, taking his drink again to finish it while he watches all of this breakdown by his detective. As much as Kaito dislikes detectives and cops, he loves to watch the way Shinichi’s eyes brighten when he figures out something or the pride he has when he finally figures out the culprit.

“Takagi-keiji, can you pretend to be the victim for me? Just sit there” Shinichi asks the police detective, who nods and moves to sit in the victim’s seat, watching quietly as Shinichi grabs a pencil, telling the others to pretend it was the poisoned needle before he slides down to sit across from Takagi, just like Hori-san was. 

“If I want to go to the toilet… I’ll have to pass by here,” Shinichi mumbled, standing up from his seat, walking right past Takagi and over to where the restroom was, then he paused and walked back to the fiancée’s seat, moving to do the same thing yet again, and then again with the brother’s seat.

“Dropping Kida-san out, because he doesn’t even pass by the victim, unless he wants to be stuck behind his seat” Shinichi explains, stepping over to the restroom fiancée’s seat again, and he sees Kida-san visibly relax, almost glad that he wasn’t suspected anymore. It was understandable, being suspected for someone’s death, especially your brother’s, wasn’t easy.

“Kishi-san could’ve easily done it, adding on the fact that she was right next to him, and the needle was plucked under her seat, between the wood cracks. But… she would’ve been noticed if she tried to stick the needle in the way I found it” Shinichi says, sitting down to pretend he was the fiancée, poking Takagi in the thigh with the pencil before leaning over to try and stick it into that exact crack, but he had to look down and bend slightly to do so.

“Hori-san, did you perhaps… drop something like your wallet when coming back from the toilet? or something of that sort?” Shinichi asks, raising an eyebrow as he stands up, taking out a coin from his pocket, stepping in the direction of the restroom to play out the act he had in mind. 

“She did!” Kida-san muttered, his eyes going wide as he watched. Shinichi stepped forward with a nod, pretending to drop his coin when he reached the seat, bending down to grab it, poking Takagi in the thigh with the pencil before pressing it between the wood of the fiancée’s seat, it was quick and easily hidden. 

“You killed him for stealing your work and tried to blame it on his fiancée? Why?” Shinichi muttered, tucking his hands into his pockets as he stood up again, facing the coworker with a stern look. Most eyes were on her now, and she clenched her fists a bit.

“He's been stealing my work for months, taking all the credit of my research, and she knows he does, she proved it herself when she accused me, and she never tried to stop him,” Hori-san explains herself, staring down at the floor and not meeting anyone's eyes, he could see the way her nails dug into her palms. Shinichi sighed, pointing out the poison on her finger as well and that it should get treated immediately.

She was taken away after that. Megure-keibu thanked him for good work, patting his shoulder once before leaving with the police car. Shinichi waved them off, turning to face Kaito again and feeling like he was about to drop then and there. Cases were exhausting sometimes.

Kaito orders a black coffee to go while Shinichi sits back in one of the booths, and while it was getting made, he moves beside the detective, handing him a wrapper bar of something, he doesn't glance at what it is, just quietly eats it and guesses that it's chocolate with oats.

“Case closed” Shinichi sighs, both of them finally leaving the cafe with that coffee in hand after everything had been taken care of. Kaito seems pleased too, keeping himself busy with a few papers he just happens to have, making quick and tiny origami shapes with them, and placing each one in Shinichi’s hair as they walk. 

“Idiot” Shinichi sighs, hooking his arm around Kaito’s, shifting closer, and he doesn’t shake his head off when the mini paper figures are tucked in his hair. He hums quietly, and he watches Kaito professionally fold them, making tiny birds and stars. 

-

Shinichi has another one of his usual colds again, he had come back drained from case, spotting Kaito in his living room, but that's a daily occurrence now, and it makes him wonder if the thief ever goes to school if he's always at Shinichi's place.

Kaito says something, but it falls muffled to Shinichi's ears, and he's moving slowly, leaning against the wall for support, and collapses by the time he reaches his bed, unable to stand up any longer.

The thief is right behind him, staring down at Shinichi with concern as he presses his hand to the detective's forehead, frowning when he feels his feverish skin and shifts to get those layers of clothes off him, muttering words of reassurance that Shinichi's brain can't comprehend in his current state.

“Where are your medicines, Meitantei?” Kaito asked, moving around the room before grabbing a small towel from Shinichi's closet and going to the bathroom. He wets the towel, coming back to press it to the detective's forehead, letting it rest there for now.

“Mm beds?” Shinichi asks, his words slurred, and he was looking all too drowsy. Kaito sighs, giving up on trying with the detective for now, it was clear he wouldn't be able to answer a single question that he was asked.

Kaito moves off the bed, making sure to tuck in the detective, changing the towel and wetting it with cool water again, moving it from where it was on Shinichi’s forehead and over his eyes a little bit. He switches back into his KID suit, minus the cape and top hat, he doesn't need the dramatic effect right now, and so he slips out of the Kudo Manor and sneaks into the house next door. 

The old man is asleep in one of two beds, snoring loudly. KID slides in through one of the windows, keeping in the shadows, because he was not going to get caught sneaking into the house by that oddly smart girl. 

His eyes scanned the entrance, the coffee machine was still plugged in, and the coffee in it was hot and steaming, meaning she was definitely still awake. KID scans the floor upstairs quickly, no one's there, and he tries not to jump out of his skin when he comes face to face with some robot thing that the professor seemed to be working on. It could use a few fix-ups, he thinks, but he doesn't do anything about it.

He steps into the basement, his footsteps as light as a feather, and she doesn't seem to notice him because he doesn't actually look at her. KID knows how it feels like to be watched, and he knows he feels that too, just like Meitantei always had, so he keeps his gaze elsewhere as he settles into one of the chairs before purposely making a sound to grab her attention.

She gasps when he makes a noise with his shoes, and there's a gun immediately held to his head, one that seemed to have a space under her computer desk. He hums but doesn't flinch to give her the reaction she wanted. KID moves the gun away from his face with a slow finger, leaning back in his seat.

“Theif KID, huh?” She mutters, but she doesn't move her gun down, nor does she turn on the safety mode again, and she doesn't seem to be hesitant at all. He's not surprised, she has that paranoia worse than Meitantei. She still feels it, she still thinks that Organization is there. Meitantei thinks they're gone for good now, both of them are too different.

“Meitantei’s temperature is high… too high, I need some medication for him” He speaks his purpose right away, resting his elbow on the armrest of the chair, then leaning his head against a gloved hand. She only stares for a moment, as if trying to analyse any tricks behind his words, KID doesn't blame her.

“What are you to Kudo-kun? Why are you helping him? First you're saving him during the takedown, and don't deny it. I saw you tackling down one of their agents with sleeping gas. After that, you get him a formula for the antidote, which I still have no idea how you got your hands on it, and now this?” She talks slow and wary, stepping back from him at a safe distance. He sighs, moving to cross one leg over the other neatly. KID considers her words, it's weird to think about it from her point of view. He doesn't blame her for being so careful, she doesn't know what's between him and Meitantei, or at least he guesses that Meitantei never told her, since she's acting like this.

“I owe him, don't I? He caught my sniper” KID shrugs, running a gloved hand through his mess of hair, and her eyes widen at the action, only then seeming to realize that his Kaitou KID outfit wasn't complete, and maybe she thinks that he has his guard down when he doesn't.

“He caught that sniper because he was from them” She hisses out the last word as if it tastes like poison, and ah… she was more familiar with them than he thought, no wonder she was behaving like this, and once again, he doesn't blame her one bit.

“Said sniper killed my father and wanted to kill me. Meitantei caught him for me, I owe him big time” KID explains like it's the most simple thing in the world, but she only furrows her eyebrows, as if she wasn't convinced. He tries to be patient, he tries to tell himself that if she trusts him, he can get some medicine for Meitantei. He hopes Meitantei is doing alright on his own right now.

“Kudo-kun has a fever?” She asks, stepping back from him slowly and over to a cabinet, hesitantly turning her back to him, but he can see that she's looking at him from the corner of her eye out of the computer screen's reflection. She doesn't trust him, but she's probably doing this for Meitantei.

“Came back from a case, all dizzy, collapsed with a fever” He doesn't specify, but she probably knows what's between the gaps, she's familiar with it, maybe? KID knows that she was the one taking care of him while Meitantei was still Tantei-kun, he's seen her enter and check up on him during his visits.

“Do you know how to give insulin?” She asks, placing a single injection on the table near KID. He nods once in reply, taking the item and slipping it into his sleeve for safekeeping until he's back to Meitantei’s room at least, which won't be too long, he hopes, he doesn't know how his detective is doing right now, and he thinks he might go crazy if he stays here any longer. 

“And KID,” The smart girl's voice calls out from behind him when he's about to leave, causing him to stop for a moment, turning to face her over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow. She's glaring at him, like she wants to threaten him or something.

“Don't you dare hurt Kudo-kun” Her voice is serious, low, in a warning tone even. He gives her a grin before turning back in the direction of the door, opening it and stepping out of her basement room. 

“I wouldn't dare” He tells her, stuffing his hands into his pockets before he's gone in a puff of smoke, and he's darting out of the house to get back to his detective as fast as possible.

-

For the next few nights, the same occurs, and KID's visits to Haibara-san -yes, he finally learned her name- were becoming more frequent; getting that single injection, getting an all-too-serious warning from her, and he leaves to get back to Meitantei. It's not bad, and he doesn't mind, as long as his detective was okay. 

Haibara seems to expect his visits at times, and when he sneaks into the basement to find her asleep, he notices the injection placed neatly in the same spot as every other day, so he silently takes it and slips away like he was never there. 

It's one time where his detective doesn't get sick in his usual timing, but in the morning instead, Kaito had stayed the night then, mostly to be there if Shinichi ever got sick later than usual. But also because he didn't want to leave when Shinichi was so very quietly ranting on and on about Sherlock Holmes and whatsoever, keeping it until his words got all slurred up and he fell asleep. It made Kaito smile, and he fell asleep beside him right after.

That very morning, Shinichi’s alarm was ringing church bells, causing Kaito to gasp and jolt awake, looking around until his eyes landed on the alarm clock, which he turned off right away. On the other hand, his beloved detective was still sound asleep, in fact, curling up even more into his blankets. 

It's a whole war to get Shinichi awake, and when he does get up, he's heaving as he stumbles to the bathroom, and almost drops to the floor, but Kaito was immediately at his side before he drops, and he helps his detective over to sit on the edge of the bathtub. Kaito crouches down beside him, pressing a hand to Shinichi's forehead, and he hisses at an even higher fever than usual.

Shinichi is coughing, and he jolts up to the toilet. Kaito thinks he's about to throw up like he does sometimes, but he just coughs. Kaito is by his side, patting his back soothingly, and he helps Shinichi up when he relaxes a bit and flushes the toilet for him.

He notes how Shinichi coughs up blood but doesn't comment about it and decides to just ask Haibara about it when he has the detective in bed again. School can wait. 

Kaito helps Shinichi back to the bedroom, noticing the way his body was shaking and stiffening slowly, and he tucks him in and makes sure he's warm before he's darting for the other house, switching clothes with a movement of his arm, and whistling for one of his doves to watch over Shinichi until he's back.

“Haibara-san?” KID calls out, looking around the basement, but no one's there, and he steps up to the main floor, spotting her at the kitchen counter stools with that professor, both drinking coffee, and the older man looks at him like he's insane. 

“I thought he didn't get sick,” Haibara sighs, and KID heaves out a breath, his heart thumping against his lungs and ribs, and he doesn't move as she goes down to the basement, leaving him with the professor, who stares for a moment before awkwardly sipping at his mug. 

“Are you living with him at this point?” The girl asks when she's back again, handing him the injection as usual, and he takes it, sliding it into his sleeve like he always does, and he sighs at her question. She doesn't know, which means Meitantei never told her, means he won't say a word until Meitantei says things first.

“I have a dove assigned to watch over him” KID mutters, and it's not exactly a lie, because he does have a dove watching over Meitantei when he can't be there or when he is busy with his own school or heists. Haibara stares at him for a moment, as if trying to see through his half-lie, but he keeps his regular poker face, and he doesn't blink once when she keeps eye contact.

As if on cue, there's a dove flying through the window, and it flutters as it lands on his shoulder. KID straightens a bit when a beak is pressed to his ears and there's a coo. His eyes widen slightly, and he doesn't notice Haibara when she stares at him as if he was mad for understanding what a bird said.

“I shall be on my way” His poker face returns in a blink, as if it never broke for the slightest moment, and he shifts around without displacing the bird on his shoulder. KID bows slightly, reaches into his pocket with a careful movement, and disappears in a puff of smoke, as he normally does.

“Meitantei,” KID gasps as he's back in Shinichi's room, and his heart breaks at the sight of his detective curled up into a literal ball in the bed, and he rushes to his side when he hears him whimper. KID frowns, and he shushes Shinichi quietly as he helps him lay back down on the bed again.

“It's okay, just- breathe” KID mutters, and he feels like it's more to himself than to the detective. He helps Shinichi out of that sweater he was wearing, and he notices two of his doves carrying a damp towel with their feet, and he feels like he's never been more grateful for his birds.

He lifts up Shinichi's night shirt with one hand, holding the injection with the other as he takes the cap off with his teeth, pressing the needle to the pale skin of Shinichi’s side. KID learnt that injection in that area works a lot faster than in the arms, and he definitely needed this to work quickly on his detective. 

When he pulls the needle away, he gently wipes the area with a clean cloth, shifting Shinichi so that he has his head propped up on a pillow and covering him with a blanket when he notices a shiver. KID hums when a dove takes the needle from him and drops it in the bin, and they seem to have memorized the routine now.

-

Shinichi only wakes up a bit after he's given the injection, feeling arms looped around him from behind, providing warmth. There’s a pair of legs on either side of him, and a warmer body against his back, propping him up in a slight sitting position, and a slender hand rubbing a spot on his side a bit under his shirt. 

He shifts a bit, tilting his head to look up, finding Kaito sitting there  in his KID suit but with the monocle off, seeming zoned out and thinking about something. Shinichi wants to say something, but his voice is stuck in his chest, and his throat feels too dry.

“Kai..” Shinichi murmurs, seeming to get Kaito out of his thoughts because his head snaps down at him, and there's a sigh of relief leaving his lips. Shinichi furrows his eyebrows at that reaction, he doesn't really know why Kaito seemed so worried, but he doesn't make a move to ask, feeling all too tired to do anything.

“I called in sick for you,” Kaito spoke after a moment, shifting to the side, causing Shinichi to move with him, before there's a glass of water presented in front of him. The detective murmurs a quiet thanks, moving his hands to hold the glass, bringing it to his lips to take a few sips, not failing to notice how Kaito was still holding it from under, in case it falls out of Shinichi's hold.

Shinichi doesn't question the sick call part, he knows Kaito could easily fake his voice and even make it sound sick so he didn't have to go to school. He places the glass down to his lap, taking his hands off it when Kaito pulls it away to put it on the nightstand instead. 

“C'mon, you need food after that injection,” Kaito nudged Shinichi, who hummed in reply and sat up, shifting his weight off the other. He quietly watches as Kaito moves off the bed, changing out of the KID suit with a swish of his arms, and he smiles softly at the sight of him in something more comfortable. 

“How long was I out for?” Shinichi asked, leaning against the wall as he quietly yawns, sliding his feet along the floor and to the bathroom. He sees Kaito following after him, hands in his pockets as he leans back to check the clock. 

“Well it's noon now so… a good few hours I'd say” Kaito smiles, leaning against the bathroom's doorframe as he watches Shinichi washing his face and brushing his teeth. Shinichi hums as he rinses his mouth, not too surprised by that fact, he was never a morning person anyway.

“C'mon, I want coffee” Shinichi mutters through a yawn, holding onto Kaito's sleeve and pulling him out of the room and down to the kitchen, holding onto the railing because he was practically still asleep, his eyes half closed and squinted.

“You and your coffee” Kaito sighs as they reach the kitchen, turning on the coffee machine for Shinichi and starting up the toaster as well. He chuckles upon seeing Shinichi sitting by the counter, leaning against it with a sleepy expression.

It's nice. Maybe things weren't so bad after all.