Prompt: "Kaito dragged him out shopping, to the park, a visit to the arcade, dinner with his mother, and other ventures that Shinichi grumpily called 'a waste of time' but went along with anyways."

Requestor: Rath's Rants

Pairing: Kaito x Shinichi

Note(s): Oh God I need a dentist. I've gotten so many cavities from writing all these fics. Which is my own fault, really, for being a sap, but… yeah, I'm still going to complain.

Day Out

"You really need to get out of the house."

Shinichi looked up from where he was carefully examining the latest case file he'd received from Takagi (murder of a forty-three-year-old architect) towards where Kaito was leaning against the doorframe. "Do I, now?"

His best friend sighed. "Yes, actually. When was the last time you left the house?"

"Uh…" Shinichi stopped to think about it. "Yesterday."

"What were you doing?"

"Getting mail."

Kaito rolled his eyes. "I'm not counting that."

"Technically, I left the house –"

"You know what I mean." Kaito sighed, but the raised-eyebrows-closed-mouth expression he shot Shinichi was good-natured. "You stay in here with your dead bodies and your case files all the time. I'm starting to get worried."

Shinichi blinked at him askance. "Did Ran send you? If so, you have my full permission to ignore her. I'll pay for the hospital fees."

"What – no. I'm here of my own volition because I care," Kaito insisted. He straightened. "Right, okay. You're coming out with me." There was about half a millimeter left for argument in his tone.

Oh, great. Shinichi peered hopelessly down at his case report. Poor Matsumoto Ryuunosuke was going to have to wait to be avenged. "Do I have a choice?" he asked listlessly.

"Well, you can come willingly, or I can just knock you out and drag your unconscious body with me." Kaito shrugged and pointed at his stomach, which looked misleadingly flat. "As you know, I carry around the sleeping gas."

"Yes, you do," Shinichi agreed, standing resignedly. The one time with his rabid fan in the aquarium told him that much, despite that to this day Kaito claimed he'd just been high strung and hadn't meant to knock her out. Shinichi sort of doubted that. "Where are we going?"

"Gray."

Puffing out his cheeks, Kaito lowered the shirts in his hands. He gazed forlornly at the heather gray t-shirt in his left hand. "But gray is such a boring color."

From where he was propped up against a display, Shinichi crossed his arms over his chest. "Hakuba will appreciate gray. Trust me on that."

"Mm…" Kaito lifted an eyebrow skeptically. "I don't know about that. Gray is seriously boring."

Shinichi sighed, scrubbing at the bridge of his nose. "Well then, wouldn't it suit Hakuba?" He doubted he could convince Kaito that gray was a neutral, perfectly attractive color.

...Or that the polka-dotted neon orange and lime green shirt in Kaito's right hand was a very bad idea and that Hakuba would not be pleased to receive it as a birthday gift. He probably couldn't convince Kaito of that either.

"That's true." Kaito brightened, setting the orange shirt back on the rack. It hung crookedly. "Do you think I can spray paint words on it?"

"I will not endorse anything that will end with Hakuba needing painkillers," Shinichi told him firmly. "As much as you may hate him, he's the only person I know who likes Holmes too."

Pouting, Kaito folded the gray shirt over his arm. "You're no fun."

Rolling his eyes, Shinichi reached over to straighten the orange shirt and mutter under his breath that he was loads of fun, seriously.

He almost smacked Kaito in the face, though, when he turned back around. "Hey!"

Kaito ignored him in favor of doing what he had been attempting to do: hold a tie up to Shinichi's neck.

Finally finding his voice (because it wasn't every day he turned around to find Kaito standing that close, dammit), Shinichi choked, "What are you doing?"

"Hm?" Kaito looked up, smirking. He held a tie in each of his hands – one a solemn dark green and the other a startlingly bright blue. "Trying ties out on you."

"That's very… er… nice of you…?" Shinichi stammered, flushing slightly. The feeling of Kaito's fingers brushing against his throat was enough to make him suddenly feel very aware of his heart thrumming faster than usual and his palms breaking out in a cold sweat. Did Kaito know he did this to him? He hoped not.

Kaito just laughed. "I think I like the blue one more. Brings out your eyes," he added with a wink that sent Shinichi reeling. "C'mon, let's got get these checked out."

Shinichi stared after him as he put back the green tie and skipped towards the checkout. "God," the detective grumbled, taking a deep breath, and hurriedly followed him.

"Why a park?"

"Don't hate," Kaito scolded, poking Shinichi in the arm. "It's a nice park."

It was a nice park, Shinichi had to admit. It seemed well-maintained, with a stone-lined path winding through little grassy knolls and benches scattered about. Children were frolicking about, calling and waving to their friends and parents. The sun painted everything a warm golden.

Shinichi was sitting beside Kaito on one of the mentioned benches, glancing around the park with slight confusion. "But… why are we at a park?"

"Have you no sense of childlike happiness?" Kaito demanded. "The joy of a day at the park?"

"I spent too much time as a child recently, so… no."

"Right." Leaning back, Kaito smiled faintly at the sky. "Well, that makes sense, I suppose. But I couldn't just abandon my avid fans, after all."

Blinking with confusion, Shinichi asked, "By 'avid fans,' what do you –"

He was interrupted when something hurtled through the air to land on Kaito's lap, clinging to his torso and nearly knocking over the neatly-wrapped shirt (and tie) at his side. "Kaito-nii!"

It took Shinichi a second to realize that the "something" was a small girl, perhaps about four or five years old, and by the time he had, Kaito was laughing and patting her on the head.

"Hello there, Micchan," he grinned and offered her a rose.

"Micchan" beamed and snatched it from him, rolling it between pudgy fingers. "Thank you, Kaito-nii!" For the first time, she seemed to notice Shinichi and instantly seemed to deflate, clutching Kaito's shirt. "Who's that, Kaito-nii?"

"He's Shinichi-niichan," Kaito explained. "I've mentioned him, haven't I?" He smirked at Shinichi. "This is Mitsuyo, Shinichi."

Recovering his wits, Shinichi smiled at her. "Hello, princess," he said, reaching out to grab her hand and place a kiss on it. "You look lovely today."

Mitsuyo blushed bashfully. "Hi, Prince Shin-nii," she giggled, and Kaito laughed, looking at Shinichi over her head.

"Looks like you've got a new nickname, Shinichi."

Rolling his eyes, Shinichi glanced away from Mitsuyo just in time to see a small troupe of children and assorted teenagers running towards them, all calling variations on "Kaito."

"Kaito-niichan!"

"Kaito-san!"

"Kai-chan!"

"Is this what you meant by your avid fans?" Shinichi wondered, casting a look at Kaito.

Kaito nodded, gently pulling Mitsuyo off him to set her on the ground in front of them. "Yep. I come here pretty often to give magic shows." He tapped Mitsuyo on the shoulder. "Go find your older sister, okay?"

Mitsuyo nodded, looked at Shinichi one last adoring time, before tottering towards the horde of children. "Look, Tori-nee, Kaito-nii gave me this flower!" she yelled, and Kaito laughed.

The first to reach them was an older boy, maybe about twelve or thirteen. His gaze immediately caught on Shinichi. "Who's that, Kaito-san?"

"This is Shinichi," Kaito introduced. "Brought him with me."

At that, a look of comprehension spread across the boy's face, quickly succeeded by a smug smirk. "Oh, so you're the illustrious Shinichi-san we hear so much about?"

"Huh?" Shinichi raised his eyebrows. He peered over at Kaito, who was making an abort mission face at the boy. "What has Kaito said about me?"

"Not a lot," the boy leered, clearly enjoying the die or I'll kill you glares Kaito kept sending towards him. "Just that he really, really likes y –"

"Okay, Katsuya-kun, it's time to shut up," Kaito sang loudly, standing and catching the boy in a headlock. Katsuya sputtered, clawing at Kaito's arm. Ignoring him, Kaito continued, "Let's start the show, all right?" He leaned over and muttered something in Katsuya's ear, something that made Katsuya still and relax, before releasing him.

By then, most of the other children had caught up and were clustered around the bench, most of them blinking at Shinichi. Shinichi waved and smiled, wondering what exactly Kaito had told the kids about him.

"This is Shinichi," Kaito told them, motioning at Shinichi. "He's going to be my assistant today, aren't you, Shinichi?"

"Wh –" Shinichi started, then nodded and stood up. "Right, yes. Definitely."

"Great," Kaito beamed, clapping. Doves exploded out of his sleeves, and the children all gasped and laughed.

Shinichi couldn't help but smile a little at the whole scene, as Kaito feigned surprise at the appearance of the doves ("Huh? But I thought I didn't bring them today! What's going on?") and the children cheered all the louder.

Leaning against the console, Kaito sighed. "Of course this is how it works out."

Looking away from the "100 – perfect score!" scorecard blinking on the screen in front of him, Shinichi gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

"Shooting games," Kaito explained, shaking his head. "Shooting games, soccer games, and weirdly enough, pinball. You're great at all of them."

Holstering the plastic gun, Shinichi stepped away from the game. "Hey, it was your idea to come to an arcade." He gestured at their surroundings, the blinking, glowing, and popping of arcade games casting little bits of light over the two of them. "I would've been fine heading home. Especially after you threw glitter all over me for that trick." He pointed at where flecks of glitter were stuck to his clothes. "I'm never going to be clean again. People are going to wonder why I have magenta glitter in my hair at my funeral."

"Hey, you have to admit that the trick was pretty cool," Kaito scowled, peeling himself off the console. "And please. The glitter will come off before you die, at least."

"Who knows? I could die any day, with the work I do. You never know." Shinichi shrugged. "What's important is that I do everything I want before that day comes." He smiled faintly.

For some reason, when Shinichi turned back to Kaito, Kaito was wearing an oddly serious expression.

Shinichi slanted his head curiously at him. "What's wrong –"

"Do you want to go to dinner?"

It probably wasn't a good sign that Shinichi's heart actually almost stopped. "What do you mean?" he stammered.

"Do you want to go to dinner with my mom and me?"

Oh. With his mom. Okay. "Uh, sure," Shinichi agreed, not entirely sure why his stomach seemed to sink a little.

Kaito nodded, as if deciding something, and turned towards the entrance of the arcade. He picked up the wrapped packages that had been standing beside the console. "Let's go."

As the waiter departed the table, bowing deeply, Chikage Kuroba smiled brightly across the table at Shinichi. Leaning forward, she balanced her face on her hands and smiled adoringly at him. "Oh, so this is Shinichi-kun?"

At Shinichi's side, Kaito said, "Yes, Mom." His tone was unexpectedly guarded.

"Don't give me that look," Chikage chastised. "You hardly ever introduce me to your –"

"In other news, I hear that spring is nice in Paris," Kaito cut in at a higher volume than strictly necessary.

Shinichi's eyebrows were lost underneath his bangs. "Are you okay?" he asked Kaito with concern. He leaned over to touch Kaito's forehead.

"Fine, absolutely fine," Kaito announced, pushing Shinichi's hand away.

Feeling slightly hurt, Shinichi settled back in his seat. "Well, if you say so," he remarked indifferently, and Kaito coughed, clearly awkward.

"Oh, Kaito." With a sigh, Chikage straightened. "May I talk to you over there?" She motioned at the area near the bathrooms.

Wearing a sour expression, Kaito stood, his chair scraping against the ground. "Sure, Mom." He followed his mother towards the hall. Shinichi stared after them.

From what he could see, Chikage was scolding him, moving her hands frantically and tossing short glances back over at Shinichi. Kaito was scowling deeply, responding with matching hand motions.

Whatever, Shinichi decided. It probably had nothing to do with him.

He took a sip from his glass and leaned back in his chair. Today – had been weirdly fun. Well, maybe not "weirdly." Shinichi hadn't expected to be boring (Kaito was involved, after all), but he still hadn't expected running errands to be that… interesting.

Maybe it was just because of the company he'd had.

Shinichi's musings were interrupted when Kaito and Chikage returned to that table. "I'm so sorry about that, Shinichi-kun," Chikage smiled widely. "Why don't you tell me about yourself? What are your hobbies?"

"Um, I solve cases with the police. For – fun."

"Really? That sounds interesting. Do you do anything else?"

As Shinichi struggled to find something else he did on a regular basis (coffee drinking and reading Sherlock Holmes books probably didn't really count), he was very aware of Kaito sitting quietly at his side.

"Be careful on your way home," Kaito told his mother, probably irritating the taxi driver as he leaned in through the window.

"You're so overprotective," Chikage sighed, fondly, though, and patted him on the cheek. "I'll be fine. This strapping young man will take care of me, won't he?" She directed the second part to the taxi driver, who flushed at the attention and nodded.

"Yeah, she'll be fine," he assured Kaito. "I know this area pretty well."

Kaito gave him a suspicious look and finally pulled himself out of the taxi. "Okay. Well, see you later, then."

From where Shinichi was standing a few feet away on the sidewalk, he sighed. "Really, Kaito, you don't have to walk me home. Just go with your mom. I can take care of myself."

The wide-eyed expression Kaito turned on him was nothing short of scandalized. "How could I let a pretty detective like you walk home alone?"

Shinichi didn't have time to blush before Chikage hummed knowingly. "I see how it is. You're fine letting your mother go home on her own, but when it's a 'pretty detective' we're talking about, it's a different story?"

"Mom," Kaito said in a strained tone, and Chikage just laughed, rolling up the window.

"I'm just kidding, Kaito. And bye, Shinichi-kun!" she called as the gap between the gap and the frame narrowed and narrowed.

Shinichi waved. "Bye, Kuroba-san."

As the taxi started down the street, Kaito turned to face Shinichi. "Shall we?"

"Sure."

They began to walk down the sidewalk. Shinichi felt strangely uncomfortable – ridiculously so, considering that they'd spent most of the day alone together anyway. The only differences now were that there weren't any other people around and that it was dark, the only light coming from the few streetlights.

Actually, it was kind of different, Shinichi thought as the back of Kaito's hand swept casually against his and Shinichi's blood seemed to turn to fire in all of half a second. As in – very different.

They walked in companionable silence for most of the way to Shinichi's house, the sky bright with stars above their heads and the wrapping on Hakuba's shirt and the tie crinkling a little with each step.

When they rounded the corner at the far end of Shinichi's street, Kaito finally broke the silence. "So did you have fun today?" His voice was low and quiet, warm and gentle, and Shinichi almost shivered.

"Weirdly enough, I did," he answered, feeling as if his voice was too loud.

Kaito laughed a little. His fingers skimmed Shinichi's. "See, sometimes it's not too bad to go out."

They had reached the front gate of Shinichi's house. Shinichi hesitated as he started for the door, pausing. His shoes grated audibly against the concrete. "You know, I was thinking about it. Maybe it's just the company that makes it so fun."

Before he could shove open the door and flee, because what was he saying, a hand reached out to gently grab Shinichi's arm. "Hey."

Shinichi looked back over his shoulder to see Kaito standing there, highlighted against the sky, eyes soft and deep indigo. Positively gorgeous. "I still have your tie."

"…Oh." Shinichi turned back around fully. "You really didn't have to get that, you know. I can pay you back if you want."

"No, that's all right." Kaito set down Hakuba's shirt to extract the impeccably wrapped box. He pulled off the paper and presented it to Shinichi. "Here."

"Thanks." Shinichi reached out to take it from him, feeling out of his depth. What was he supposed to say, really?

"You know," Kaito remarked, lightly gripping Shinichi's wrist to lift the tie until it was level with Shinichi's eyes, "the tie really does bring out your eyes."

"Oh," was all Shinichi could say. He could feel Kaito's breath ghosting over his lips, count the constellations in Kaito's eyes, trace the arch of Kaito's eyebrows, and it was a bit overwhelming.

No, he thought as Kaito's free hand pressed to his jaw and ever so gently tipped his head back, it was very overwhelming. His heart was slamming against his ribs, his breathing was starting to get the slightest bit erratic, because Kaito. Kaito was this close.

Kaito's gaze lowered, almost imperceptibly to Shinichi's lips. He let go of Shinichi's arm – it fell slack to Shinichi's side.

Almost inaudibly, and with a hint of nervousness, Kaito whispered, "You have a piece of glitter stuck to your lip."

And before Shinichi could react fully, he leaned in and kissed him.

Kaito tasted sweet, Shinichi concluded. Kaito's hands slipped back into his hair, cupping the back of his head and dragging him forward, and Shinichi almost got out a protest. Kaito swallowed it with a hum, and Shinichi surrendered, allowing himself to be pulled in.

They broke apart. Shinichi's face felt as if it were on fire, and he'd dropped the tie.

"Is it gone?" he finally managed to get out.

"Huh?" Kaito didn't seem to be faring any better. There was a glaze to his eyes, and his lips were distractingly red. "Is what gone?"

Shinichi smiled – grinned, more like. "The piece of glitter."

"Oh." And then Kaito was beaming back at him. "No, it's not."

"I guess you'll have to try again, then," Shinichi said, and Kaito laughed and tugged him in again.

Well, from here on out we have one KaiHaku, and then I'm pretty sure the rest are all KaiShin/ShinKai again. Hope you'll stick around for those...?

Hope you enjoyed, Rath's Rants, and see you all around~! - Luna