Chapter Text
It was worse than Shinichi feared.
He was contemplating every life decision that had led him to take a job with the PSIA, which ultimately led him to being partnered with Kaito.
There had only been one bed in the hotel room, courtesy of Kaito who wanted to tease and booked just the one. What he hadn’t taken into account would be no other vacant doubles to change into. At first, Shinichi had been intent on sleeping in the armchair, but for some reason, he had let Kaito convince him that sharing the bed wasn’t so bad. They were both men, right?
Well, Shinichi did find it a problem at the moment. Although, that didn’t stop him from letting out a loud moan as Kaito bit down hard on his neck and pushed his hips down to meet Shinichi’s. He was so hot, feeling almost feverish as he clung onto Kaito and desperately chased that euphoric feeling that was just beyond reach.
They’d woken up entangled with each other, so close and yet so far. Was Shinichi supposed to be glad that Kaito had crossed the threshold first, or angry? Angry at himself, maybe? Because Kaito felt so good against him, so Shinichi should’ve made a move earlier to show his interest. He almost didn’t recognise himself as Kaito pushed him down into the bed, tasting him and devouring him.
Shinichi licked into Kaito’s mouth and relished in the groan that came out of Kaito in response. He tasted so good, despite the fact that they both had only been awake for a little while. Grinding against another with clothes still on felt juvenile somehow, as if they were two teenagers who were sneaking in some time between class rather than two adults sharing a bed in a hotel.
“Shinichi,” Kaito grunted out, and Shinichi stared at him in a daze. “Are you,” he moaned and ground down harder, “Are you close?”
Kaito took that moment to caress Shinichi’s cheek, and Shinichi burned even hotter. Shinichi burrowed into Kaito’s neck, “I’m, yes, oh god, it feels so good, Kaito.” He could never tell his friends about this, not like they would believe him if he did.
They met in a kiss again, and when Kaito bit down on Shinichi’s lip, he moaned and came. He only realised a moment later that Kaito had done the same.
As they laid panting on the bed, Kaito flopped over to check the time on his phone. “Eight o’clock,” he whistled as if impressed. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this active this early in the morning.” He turned over again to look at Shinichi. What a sight. Clothes crumpled and half opened, sweating and eyes glazed. It almost made Kaito hard again to see it. He crawled over to plant a kiss on Shinichi’s mouth, smiling when the agent seemed startled over it despite having gone further just moments ago. “You do realise I’m not gonna let you go now, right, Shin-chan?” He didn’t want his partner to think this was a one-time thing. Oh no, Kaito had much more devious thoughts in motion. Shinichi was way too good to just be his work partner, and he’d mentioned as much to Aoko when he called her and Hakuba up before heading to bed the night before.
Shinichi’s cheeks burned, but he felt light inside, fluttery almost. “Don’t call me that, idiot,” he grumbled. He rolled around in bed so he didn’t have to keep looking at Kaito’s stupid grin. Then he squealed when Kaito gave him another kiss on the nape of his neck.
“I’ll think about it, hun.”
The PSIA agent flew out of bed, certain that he’d get a cardiac arrest unless he kept some distance from his partner. That, and he was too flustered to say anything else, so he threw on his clothes and headed down to the hotel breakfast buffet.
🔎💗🍀
They head back to Tanigawa’s workplace in order to talk to some more of his coworkers that hadn’t been in place the day before. It’s silent in the car, but Kaito lets it be so, because he can sense that Shinichi is embarrassed and needs time to cool down. He wouldn’t act like it didn’t affect him at all, but his poker face was way better than Shinichi’s was.
During one of their interrogations, they have more luck with finding something new to look into.
“A colleague of Tanigawa’s mentioned that he’s been particularly angry about a politician active in the Ishin party,” Kaito relayed to Aoko as he shifted on his feet, taking two steps in the stairs while making sure he wouldn’t drop the phone.
“Aaah, that’s a good lead, did he give a name?” she asked.
Kaito checked which floor he was on as he answered, “Yep, it’s Hirofumi Matoba. He’s actually living in Tokyo, so we’ll see if we can meet him when we get back. Think you can arrange that?”
Aoko sounded confident over the phone. “Of course, who do you think Aoko is? I’ll even try to hunt down information on how meetings have gone that they’ve both attended.”
“I’ll owe you one, Aoko!” Kaito hung up and took the last few steps down the stairs and stopped. He made a little noise when he saw Shinichi standing in the lobby, waiting for him.
“What are you doing, Kaito?” Shinichi had headed to the lobby when they were done talking to people, thinking that Kaito would be right behind him. He’d been surprised when the elevator left the fifth floor with only him in it.
“Sorry, I just gave my handler an update. She said she’d try to find information on Matoba.” Kaito waved his phone in front of Shinichi who nodded in understanding.
Shinichi pulled up his own phone and smiled. “I actually did the same, but I sent a text.” He’d texted Shiho though, and not a handler from the office. “I wonder why Tanigawa was so angry at Matoba,” he contemplated. “Calling someone a ‘villainous scum’ is quite harsh after all.”
“Nah,” Kaito disagreed. “That’s just the kind of drama that we want to see in the political world, elsewise I’d be bored to death.”
They bid farewell to the receptionist when they exited the building. It was still early noon, but the sun was already promising a hot day. The car was parked nearby, and they shed their coats as they walked. They had parked on the side of the road, and Kaito tapped Shinichi’s shoulder to point to the other side.
Shinichi looked over and saw an ice cream parlour, busy serving a small school class with primary school kids with ice cream cones. “You… want ice cream?” That was the only reason he could come up with as to why Kaito wanted his attention.
Kaito cheered brightly, “That sounds awesome! Does this count as our first date?!” He crossed the street after looking both ways. Leaving Shinichi behind him to shout, “We are working!”
“You don’t want one?” he shouted back. Kaito was grinning, and enjoyed the way Shinichi averted his eyes before saying loudly, “Only if they have lemon flavour.”
It made Kaito chuckle, and he jogged up to join the queue at the parlour.
Shinichi began to close the distance to their car when he stopped. He observed Kaito as he was waiting in line, already bringing out his tricks to entertain the children who were already covered in their treats. He hid a smile behind his hand, just in case Kaito looked over at him. The children were completely delighted as Kaito showed off his magic.
When Kaito noticed one of the children carrying a ball, he called the child over. “Hey kid, do you like football?” The boy nodded shyly, and Kaito smiled gently. “Then you should kick it over to the nii-san over there.” He pointed to Shinichi, and saw the agent twitch when all the schoolkids looked over at him. “He’s reeeeally good at football. So he could probably show you a neat trick.”
Since it was a few metres away, Shinichi only heard parts of what Kaito said to the children. But it was enough to realise that Kaito somehow knew that Shinichi liked to play football. He didn’t have to wait long before the child passed his ball to him, and what could Shinichi do other than supply?
He gets a few ‘Oooh’s and Aaah’s’ before he kicks the ball back to the boy. The kid has gleaming eyes from the little show, and is ready to stop the ball with his foot. Instead of catching the ball, however, he kicks it to the side and it heads for the car that Shinichi and Kaito borrowed. Shinichi takes a few steps, wondering if he could catch it, but it bounces off the hood, and Shinichi makes a mental apology to Inuma for any ball-shaped marks on the car.
Then he’s thrown backwards as the car explodes. His back hits the road and he rolls around. The car alarms of the surrounding vehicles have all gone off and the children are screaming. Shinichi quickly surveys the area, scanning for any suspicious people but finds nothing. Some shopkeepers and shoppers have exited the stores to come look at the commotion, and he notices the two teachers desperately trying to direct the schoolkids away from the burning car.
“Shinichi!”
Said person startles when his partner runs up to him and forces him to remain on the ground. “Shinichi, are you alright!? Does anything hurt?!”
Shinichi looks at Kaito and nods, noting that Kaito is on the phone with someone.
“Yes, he’s coherent. Yeah, yeah, got it.” Kaito started touching him all over his head, twisting it back and forth and to the sides. “No, I can’t see anything,” Kaito says into the phone, he walks around Shinichi and curses. “His back is pretty banged up, so you’ll have to look at that. Yeah? I can hear the sirens now, it’s the firetruck.”
“sh*t,” Shinichi says with passion. “Our car just blew up,” he continues in disbelief. He waves off Kaito’s concerned prodding and stands up. The store closest to the explosion had their windows shattered but remained mostly intact, some of the closest cars had taken some damage as well. Otherwise it seemed like a very local explosion, which meant that someone had targeted their car.
Memories of gunshots fired and him finding his partner lying in blood flashed through Shinichi’s mind. Except, it wasn’t Matstumoto’s face on the body, but Kaito’s.
The fire truck arrives quickly to the scene, and is soon joined by an ambulance. The police arrive when Shinichi is being looked over by a paramedic who is arguing for a CT scan at the hospital.
“We can’t disregard the fact that you might have hit your head very hard when you were pushed by the shockwave, Kudou-san.”
It was a reasonable demand, but Shinichi didn’t feel too hurt. His back had taken the brunt of it, not his head. His thinking was clear. If only Kaito would see that too, but he was busy fretting like a mother hen while still on the phone talking.
“Take him to the hospital, chief’s order.” Kaito suddenly cut into what was going to be Shinichi’s best argument about not going.
“Wha-?” Shinichi gaped. He wanted to protest, but Kaito wasn’t even listening. The medic seemed relieved about the existing hierarchical structures that made Shinichi unable to downright refuse him. “Yours or mine?” Shinichi asked weakly, but got no response.
“Please come over here, Kudou-san.”
Feeling like a lamb to slaughter, Shinichi stepped into the ambulance. It was such a waste of resources and time. Someone obviously had a grudge against them, or him or Kaito separately. Most likely the both, or it would’ve been easier to target them back in Tokyo. Plus, Shinichi hasn’t been in the spotlight a lot the past half year since he’s been on desk duty. So recent events were the most realistic reason.
The one with apparent frustration at them would be f*ckunaga. But how would a textile business owner be able to procure explosives overnight? Shinichi kept thinking about it as he left the crime scene. He was only feeling a little miffed that Kaito didn’t go with them.
At the scene of the explosion, Kaito was busy talking to Hakuba. He kept watch over the ambulance until it disappeared around the corner and only half listened to Hakuba’s inquiries.
“Yes, Hakubastard, there are security cameras here. That’s why I told you to look into acquiring the footage.” He was just vaguely irritated that Aoko had handed the phone to her husband when Kaito was already in a mood.
“That’s not what I meant when I asked if you could see anything suspicious around, Kuroba.” Hakuba’s voice was calm and collected, not how Kaito preferred it.
“Nothing suspicious other than a car on fire.” Sure, he was more than vaguely irritated. But he was worried, and when he worried, he got angry. Shinichi had seemed fine when he got into the ambulance, but if he’d hit his head badly, there could be belated reactions.
“Quit the sarcasm, Bakaito,” Aoko’s voice came through the phone. “We’re trying to help.”
“I don’t feel like I’m being helped,” Kaito muttered and glanced to the side when another car arrived at the scene. “Ah, I have to go. Sorry, our liaison in Nagoya just arrived. I’m gonna need to talk to her.” He watched as Inuma exited the car along with what must be her partner. “Talk to you later?”
“I’ll be in touch,” Hakuba said with Aoko affirming it in the background.
Kaito ran over to Inuma to brief her on the situation. She took a long look at the car wreck and sighed.
“This is going to be so much paperwork. I can’t believe this would happen.”
“Geez,” Kaito didn’t know if he should laugh. “Sorry for almost being blown up.”
Inuma waved it off, but her partner chuckled. “It’s fine, as long as you both are okay.” She looked around and frowned. “On that note, where is Kudou-san?”
“He had to go to the hospital and get a checkup, just in case.” Kaito said and winced. “He might’ve hit his head, but he said he was fine, so…” he shrugged and let the sentence remain unfinished. He looked at the car Inuma and her partner had arrived in, “I was planning on going to see him as soon as the scene was under control, but I seem to be without a vehicle.”
Despite the current scene, both police officers laughed at this. Inuma smiled, more relaxed now than when they arrived. “It’s a done deal, we can take you there.”
“Sure thing,” her partner agreed. “But I’m not loaning this car to you, I prefer her in one piece and not on fire!”
Great, Kaito thought. Now he just needed to wrap up the scene, and then he could go see Shinichi. “Run along people!” he shouted to Inuma and the other police officer. “We got work to do!”
🔎💗🍀
At the hospital, Shinichi was talking to the doctor when Kaito arrived. He had been sped through the process and was x-rayed while Kaito was still on the scene. They hadn’t found any fractures or clots, so Shinichi was finally good to go.
“There you are,” Kaito sighed in relief when he walked up to Shinichi. “Everything okay?”
Shinichi smiled, glad to see his partner by his side. “All’s good on my side, how is the scene?”
Kaito clapped his hands together, “All taken care of! Inuma-san and her partner Azuma-san are waiting in the parking lot, if you’re good to go? They said they could take us back to the hotel.”
“Sounds good,” Shinichi said and turned to the doctor. “Thank you for your care, doctor Sawada. I hope you have a good day.” He smiled again as he thanked the doctor who had shown patience at Shinichi’s nonexistent patience as he was examined.
“You have a good day too, Kudou-san. Remember to take it easy. Your back will hurt for a few days, but you can take paracetamol to take the edge off.”
“I will, thank you.”
“And if he doesn’t, I will. Thank you doctor,” Kaito added and threw an arm around Shinichi’s shoulders. He led him to the elevator hall, and Shinichi immediately started to grill Kaito for information.
“What happened on the scene? Did you see anyone suspicious? Was anyone else taken to the hospital?”
Kaito made a quick answer, “Three no’s to that.” He felt relieved now that Shinichi was by his side again. Being apart after an explosion like that didn’t sit right with him. “The bomb squad was called in to examine the area closely, and forensics will make sure to find out what kind of explosive was used.” They entered the elevator, and all of sudden Shinichi was being felt up.
He jolted and blinked several times as Kaito patted his head, prodded his arms, stroked his stomach and then turned him around to gently caress his back.
“What are you doing?” Shinichi asked, embarrassed about it but not refusing the look over. “I told you I’m fine.”
“I just want to make sure anyway.” Kaito didn’t back down from his current task. “You’re going to learn that I’m a very thorou-”
The elevator opened as Kaito was standing behind Shinichi and sort of embracing him with his hands on Shinichi’s stomach.
“Well, look who it is. You don’t look much like someone who was blown up.” A high voice made Shinichi stumble forward and away from his partner.
“Sonoko? Why are you here!?”
No, really? Why was she here? Shinichi’s mind was racing. How did she know he was at this hospital, or was she here to visit someone else? But what were the odds of that?
“Someone you know, Shinichi?” Kaito leaned closer to Shinichi with a polite smile on his face.
“You must be Shinichi’s new partner!” Sonoko started talking without letting Shinichi answer the question. “I’m Suzuki Sonoko, the best friend to his best friend! So we’re friends,” she said with a grin. She looked over to Shinichi, “And as to why I’m here, it actually feels like a joke.” She motioned for them to leave the elevator and walk with her. “So your little explosion has already made the news, and Heiji heard about it and looked into it. When he found out that you two were involved, he talked to his Kazuha who immediately called Ran.” She paused for dramatic tension, “And that’s why I’m here.”
“Why are you in Nagoya in the first place?” The storyline of what had happened did sound like something from a story, but Shinichi could also see it happening in real life.
“Business,” came her short answer. “Which you would have known, had you been listening at lunch the other day,” came the chastising long answer.
Then the air changed around her, and her eyes began to glitter unsettlingly. Shinichi almost wanted to take cover somewhere.
“There’s also been talks of a heist!”
Next to him, Shinichi could feel Kaito freeze for a moment. “A heist?” he asked curiously, wondering why both Sonoko and Kaito seemed to react to it.
“Yes!” Sonoko said gleefully. “My beloved White Shadow has targeted a 17th century ukiyo-e painting at the Nagoya City Art Museum! And it’s scheduled to go down tonight!” She twirled around and pointed to the ceiling, as if declaring war on something. “I’m determined to catch a glimpse of him!”
“You’re going to see a thief?” Shinichi had heard of the art thief, but he hadn’t known the thief had a fan in his friend. It was a bit off-putting.
“He’s a modern Robin Hood! He isn’t your average criminal!” Sonoko immediately argued. She put her hands on her hips and dared Shinichi to keep it up.
And so he did. “He doesn’t give to the poor, idiot.”
Kaito was silently chuckling next to Shinichi. He kept an arm around Shinichi’s back, and he hadn’t missed the fact that Shinichi’s friend seemed hyper aware of it. Kaito was also finding it intriguing to hear them talk about the White Shadow, considering the fact that it was his own alias while conducting his less-than-legal side job.
“But he exposes real criminals! It’s not like he steals random items, there’s always something suspicious about it,” was Sonoko’s next argument.
It was impressive to Kaito how much she seemed to know about his antics, considering he only rarely notified the police beforehand. He had been regretting his move regarding the ukiyo-e after the explosion. After all, he couldn’t back down since he had alerted the police of his heist. At the same time, he didn’t want to leave Shinichi behind, especially not when someone was after their lives. But maybe…
“That sounds like it could be interesting. Think we can go too?” Kaito plastered on an intrigued look and watched Shinichi with hope in his eyes. If he could bring his partner to the heist, he wouldn't need to worry as much.
Shinichi looked less than enthusiastic about it, but Kaito pushed on. “Hey, come on. It sounds like fun, and after today, I could use a breather.” That seemed to be the right choice of words, because Shinichi softened.
“I suppose we could go there.”
Sonoko looked as delighted as Kaito was feeling. “That’s wonderful! You can make sure they let me into the museum so I can see it happen up close!” Her eyes turned dreamy, and Kaito suppressed a shiver.
“Absolutely not!” Shinichi shot her down vehemently. “You’ll stay outside the heist area if the police tell you to.”
“But we’ll be inside, right?” Kaito asked, eyes wide. He could see conflicting emotions in Shinichi’s eyes, most likely because of his upright morals. However, he could see how the heist seemed to intrigue the agent as well.
“Yeah,” Shinichi relented. He was a bit tense as he said it, but relaxed when Kaito cheered.
“So unfair,” Sonoko complained. She had a hand on her hip and stared at them accusingly.
Kaito let go of Shinichi and approached her. “I’m sure we can make an arrangement, Suzuki-san.” He fiddled with his sleeve and made a red rose appear out of thin air. “I’m Kuroba Kaito, Shinichi’s new partner. I’m looking forward to getting to know you.”
Sonoko squealed, completely enchanted by the rose. “The pleasure is mine! Please, do take care of our Shinichi for us, he is absolutely helpless on his own.” She laughed, but quickly stopped as her phone rang. Fishing it out of her purse, she winced when she saw who the caller was and quickly excused herself.
“She must’ve left work to come and see you here,” Kaito mused. “You’re good friends, aren’t you?”
Shinichi shrugged, a little bit embarrassed. “I guess so, we’ve been friends for a long time after all. You must have them too, right?”
Kaito thought about Aoko and Hakuba, even Akako’s face flashed by and he grinned. “Sure do, I already know they look forward to meeting you.” He looked around and saw a sign that pointed to the parking lots. “Let’s go meet up with Inuma-san? They’re waiting for us. We need to discuss where we are going next in this case.” His voice turned more serious, and Shinichi’s face changed into something that matched Kaito’s mood.
“We should, yeah.”
With that, they headed off to the parking lot in search of Inuma and Azuma.
