Warnings include shounen-ai and grammar mistakes / errors, because for some reason FF messed up some of the spaces. It's super annoying, and I kind of don't want to reread this too carefully for fear of depressing myself, so please forgive any typos.

Basically, this was written because I kind of feel as if I've been writing in Shinichi's point of view a lot recently, and I wanted to take a break and try to write something from Kaito's perspective for a change.

The title is taken from "Say Goodnight and Go" by Imogen Heap, because the lyrics of the chorus fit. Although the song itself doesn't.

Well, hope you enjoy! – Luna

Why'd You Have To Be So Cute

Oh no, Kaito thought despairingly, it was happening again.

Again.

He watched, with no small amount of horror, as Shinichi continued
to peel the orange in his hands, taking care to turn it so the peel detached in a perfect spiral. The detective's top lip disappeared behind his teeth as he came dangerously close to tearing the piece.

It wasn't even fair, Kaito thought hopelessly as Shinichi's expression eased - through some magical twist of fate, Shinichi had managed to save the last minute's work, navigating the peel so it didn't break. Was Shinichi even aware of what he was doing?

Because Kaito couldn't even think due to how ridiculously cute the stupid detective was.

It had started out reasonably enough, in Kaito's opinion. He'd just happened to look over at Shinichi once, on a freezing mid-December night as they'd been walking home from Ran's annual pre-Christmas party, and noticed,very rationally,that Shinichi looked sort of cute, with his cheeks poinsettia red from the cold and his lips chapped and a little swollen because he adamantly refused to wear lip balm for whatever reason. It had been a perfectly normal thing to think, just an observation and nothing else. No deeper meaning at all.

Which was why Kaito had been able to grin when Shinichi had noticed Kaito staring at him and demanded to know if there was something on his face, why Kaito had been able to reach over and ruffle Shinichi's hair (to Shinichi's utter mortification) and sing, ''You just look so cute, Shin-chan!"

Shinichi's irate one day I will leave spiders in your bed face had also been cute.

Kaito also firmly believed that the second time had also made perfect sense. They had been doing some last minute Christmas shopping, because Shinichi had been so wrapped up in an eight-day investigation that he hadn't had time to buy any presents.

Shinichi had already secured a present for Ran (a delicate sterling silver bracelet with an amethyst orchid charm) and another for Hattori (a book titled Keep Your Cool – Ten Ways to Manage Excessive Anger – Kaito had decided he probably didn't want to know) and was now trying to figure out what to be for the Detective Boys.

The detective had been hovering at a display full of stuffed animals, eyebrows slanted and eyes narrowed as his gaze swept over the selection. "I'm pretty sure Ayumi would like one of these."

Glancing up from where he was reading Keep Your Cool – Ten Ways to Manage Excessive Anger (was "going to your happy place" really that effective?), Kaito had eyed the rows of brightly colored animals. "What's her favorite animal?"

Scowling, Shinichi had glared at a smiling yellow cow. "I don't know. She likes pretty much every animal, I think."

"Then just pick one," Kaito had shrugged, expecting that to be the end of it. But Shinichi hadn't looked convinced as he reached out to pick up a soft gray cat.

"You know, did I ever mention I had a stuffed cat like this when I was a kid?" Shinichi had murmured, eyeing the cat contemplatively. "I named it Sherlock. My parents probably still have pictures."

"Oh."

And then Kaito had just stared, because Shinichi was staring down at the cat in his hands, wearing what was quite possibly the world's most nostalgic smile on his face. Somehow, in some odd mystical way Kaito would probably never understand, the store's cheap, over-bright lights managed to make Shinichi look as if he were standing in a sunbeam, highlighting the soft curl of his lips and hitting his hair just right.

Kaito had been woefully unable to think anything other than this is such a stereotypical scene out of a shoujo manga and I should probably stop looking at him weird, but it is very hard to think right now and um.

Shinichi had finally set down the cat with a sigh before he turned around to smile, slightly embarrassed, at Kaito. "You know what? I'll just get all three of the kids the latest Shinmei Kaori book. I think I heard Mitsuhiko hinting something about that earlier."

"Oh, uh - er -" Stammering his way out of his trance, Kaito had just nodded and hurried out of the store. Shinichi had called after him in confusion, but Kaito had been too busy trying to hide the flush that was trying to spread up his neck.

The third time, though, that it happened, Kaito was pretty sure the whole thing stopped bearing any semblance of levelheadedness. Looking cute on a cold day, okay. Looking cute holding a stuffed cat, okay. Those had made sense (well, as much sense as thinking your best friend was cute could).

This one hadn't.

They had been arguing. Not joking or bantering or even calm, logical discussion; full-blown yelling-to-be-heard-over-each-other, banging-objects-against-tables, throwing-hands-up-in-complete-frustration arguing.

It had started out with something stupid, some comment Kaito had made about Shinichi getting in late or something. Kaito couldn't even remember why he'd been at Shinichi's house at one in the morning – had Shinichi called him over? Had he just been hanging out at Shinichi's house?

But somehow, that one remark had made Shinichi tense up and turn accusing, razorblade eyes on Kaito before biting out, "I just spent four hours as a serial killer's hostage because of you, so please keep your commentary to yourself."

At that, Kaito's blood had run cold, and he'd demanded to know what the hell Shinichi was talking about. Shinichi had explained, snidely, that he had been working a case that involved a serial killer who murdered thieves in a skewed form of justice and whose next target had been the Kaitou Kid. In order to draw him out, Shinichi had claimed to be Kid and spent four hours in his presence, carefully baiting the man just enough to get him in a position that the police could catch him.

Kaito had not been pleased to hear about this, because of the obvious reason that, um, Shinichi had spent four hours with a serial killer. Which was to be done under absolutely no circumstances. He had voiced this particular thought aloud, igniting Shinichi's exasperation.

"I don't know who you think I am, but I'm a detective! This kind of thing is routine for me! It's not a big deal!" Shinichi had yelled at the peak of their argument, hands balled in fists at his sides.

"Don't give me that!" Kaito had shouted back at him, slamming his hands against the kitchen table. "I don't see Hattori or Hakuba or Sera-san or – hell, I don't even see the police pulling stupid shit like that! You cannot tell me that it's not a big deal!" He'd glared hard, not willing to be the one to break their locked gazes. "You're too impulsive!"

Shinichi had given a sharp, unamused laugh. With forced calm, he growled, "Oh, I'm too impulsive?"

"Yes, you're too impulsive –"

"That's ironic, coming from you of all people."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That you're not one to talk, not when you spend half your time running from the police and jumping off rooftops!" Shinichi had snapped, expression so fierce Kaito had clenched his teeth in retaliation. "You have absolutely no right to tell me that I'm impulsive when you risk your life so often it seems as though you don't even care about it!"

And in that moment, Shinichi had looked so furious, face an infuriated pink and mouth an incensed red line and chest falling and rising harshly with every livid breath he took. Yet he'd also looked, somehow, so – so –

Cute. Inappropriately cute.

All the fight had left Kaito at that point, replaced by an uncomfortable combination of mortification and horror (what kind of person thought his furious best friend was cute?) and he'd sort of given up. Shinichi, left with no one to respond to his anger, had eventually calmed down, and they'd spent thirty minutes drinking tea in stilted silence before Professor Agasa called to ask if the silence meant they were okay or if he should call an ambulance.

After that, Shinichi had apologized, and Kaito had accepted his apology before offering his own. It was possibly a testament to their friendship that neither of them let his pride get in the way of his apology.

But ever since then, Kaito had been slowly going out of his mind. Because at the most random moments, he kept getting hit by the thought that Shinichi was cute.

Last Thursday, it had been while Shinichi was texting Ran their dinner plans. Two days ago, it had been while Shinichi was tying his shoelaces. Yesterday, it had been while Shinichi was reading a book.

And now, it was while Shinichi was peeling an orange.

It was getting more and more out of hand, and Kaito was beginning to consider seeking help.

He looked up just as Shinichi pulled off a section of the orange and bit into it delicately, nibbling on the translucent skin lightly before chewing. He looked like some small woodland creature, and it was…

…cute.

With a strangled squeak, Kaito let his head fall against the table loudly.

Overhead, Shinichi swallowed audibly. "Are you okay, Kaito?" he asked, sounding mildly concerned. "I mean, you're acting weird." A short pause. "Actually, you've been acting weird."

Kaito gave a choked sound in return.

There was the rustle of motion before cool hands were suddenly at Kaito's cheeks, pulling his head up off the table and forcing him to meet Shinichi's eyes. The detective was frowning, mouth turning down with disapproval. "Seriously, what's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me?" Kaito groaned, trying to twist out of Shinichi's grip. It didn't work, and Kaito sullenly remembered that this was the same Shinichi who faced down murderers and drug dealers all day long. He settled for glaring weakly at Shinichi. "There's nothing wrong with me. There's everything wrong with you."

Shinichi's eyebrows rose. "What are you even talking about?"

"You're being…" Kaito cut himself off at the last second. Did he really want to get into this? "Your face. It's."

"My face...? It's…?" Shinichi prompted. The groove between his eyebrows got deeper with every second that passed.

His hands were still on Kaito's face, Kaito realized with some despair. Despair, because at the realization, he could feel his face heating up. He doubted Shinichi wouldn't notice.

Shinichi sighed, a low, tired sound. His face relaxed into an expression of slight concern more than alarm.

And then he actually bit his bottom lip, pulled it right between his front teeth, and his eyebrows turned upwards and he slanted his head like some kind of humanized puppy and Kaito couldn't help but blurt out, "You're really cute."

The second he realized what he'd said, Kaito prayed that a hole would spontaneously open in the ground and swallow him, thereby saving him the trouble of moving to a new city, changing his name, and living out the rest of his life in disguise. He was nevergoing to be able to face Shinichi again. Never.

In the awkward silence after Kaito's proclamation, Shinichi hadn't moved, motionless as a statue. His hands were frozen on Kaito's face, clutching at the curve of his jawline, and Kaito decided today was a very good day to die of embarrassment.

"You." Shinichi swallowed dryly. His tone was incredulous. "Think I'm… cute?"

"Uh." Kaito paused. "Yes." He licked his lips in a manner he prayed wasn't creepy. "Very."

For a long moment, Shinichi just sat and blinked. His thumb shivered lightly along Kaito's cheekbone, almost imperceptibly. Kaito was just beginning to wonder if Shinichi was doing it on purpose (because if he was, that was just unfair) when Shinichi smirked – smirked – and said, rough and low and oh good Lord, "Let's see if I can change that."

He leaned across the table and smashed his lips against Kaito's.

Shinichi certainly could change that, Kaito later decided, as he was falling asleep with Shinichi's head nestled against his collarbone and his arms knotted around Shinichi's waist, because he was starting to think sexy was a much better fit than cute.

Ha ha...? Isn't that a great note to end on...? *weak laugh*

And, uh, speaking of sexiness, I... uh... *lowers voice* posted the smut. You can find it on AO3 (my username is LunaDarkside, and there's also a link on my profile page). I posted it there because I'm trying to keep my FF profile fairly clean and so my more innocent readers don't accidentally subject themselves to my horrible attempts at writing gay porn. Sorry if it's a bit of a hassle.

Well, hope you enjoyed (leave me a review if you did~!) and I'll see you soon! Kisses! - Luna