Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

Pairing: KaitoxShinichi

Rating: M

Genre: Romance/Humor/Hurt/Comfort

Summary: They both start to act a little strange when they miss each other.

Notes: This is part of the "Little Steps" series. Each installation will have its own theme or running plot, and ratings will vary. This one is set somewhat later in the timeline as they've graduated university. Enjoy!

Little Steps: Coffee and Steam

Start

It starts with little things.

"Uh, Kudo, is that a bird on your head?" Hattori asks hesitantly. He is in Tokyo for a case, and so he's staying at the manor as usual. When the door opens, however, he is surprised to be met by two pairs of eyes—one blue, the other beady and black.

"What? Oh, yeah. This is Miyuki."

"Uh, right…" He swears the bird is giving him a strange look. "One of Kuroba's, right? Didn't he bring his birds with him on tour?"

"He only takes about half the flock at a time," Shinichi explains, leading the way into the kitchen. "The ones that get left behind can get a bit depressed, so I let them out of the aviary."

"I can see that." There are several more doves perched on the backs of the kitchen chairs. Watching Shinichi pet and talk to the birds as he goes about making coffee and the way the birds follow the detective around the room, Hattori thinks that it isn't only the birds who get depressed when they're left behind.

Voice

"So what do you think?"

"It seems a little…I don't know, predictable."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I wouldn't want to be predictable."

A snort. "Heaven forbid that ever happen."

A laugh. "So what if I do this instead? I won't use the cards, I'll just take these and… Voila! What do you think?"

The attendant knocks politely on the dressing room door.

The conversation stops and Kuroba Kaito answers. "What is it?"

"The stage manager's meeting just ended. She can see you now."

'Right." A moment later, the door opens. "Just lead the way."

The attendant blinks, confused, because there is no one else in the room. He could have sworn he heard two voices talking just now. So where is the other person?

Home

"Kudo-kun, why are you still here?" Takagi asks in surprise.

Shinichi looks up from the crime scene photographs he is poring over and blinks owlishly. "Huh?"

The older man frowns slightly. It's obvious that Shinichi is tired. Takagi doubts he's even really seeing those photos anymore. "You should go home. You look like you really need to get some sleep."

"He's right," Megure agrees, coming up beside the junior officer to frown with concern at the young detective. "Yamato-keiji is heading home now too. I'll have him give you a ride."

Shinichi opens his mouth to protest, but it's already too late. Soon he is being herded out of the police station and into the aforementioned Yamato's car. He sighs to himself and slumps back in his seat.

It's true that he's tired, and he appreciates that the police are worried about him. The problem is that he doesn't want to go home right now—can't go home right now. It just isn't possible.

Because that house isn't really home when Kaito isn't there.

Sweet

Everyone who knows Kaito knows that he has a sweet tooth. The waiters and waitresses in the many restaurants in and around the hotel he's staying at are no exception. Therefore, when he orders a cup of black coffee one morning about three weeks into his stay, the waitress serving him that morning didn't immediately write it down.

"Did you say black coffee?" she asks and is even more confused when he only confirms what she couldn't have heard.

When tie coffee arrives, Kaito is amused to see that there are several packets of sugar and cups of creamer with it. He doesn't open any of them. Instead he picks up the coffee, still black, and takes a sip.

It's bitter as hell and normally he wouldn't give it a second look, but when he remembers a pair of sapphire blue eyes he finds that the bitterness has turned into something sweet.

Secret

Shinichi has a secret.

It isn't a bad secret. It wouldn't hurt anyone if he didn't share it, nor would it hurt anyone if he did. But it is a secret he intends to keep forever because he just might die of mortification if it ever got out. Especially if it reached the ears of a certain magician.

The secret is about those long, lonely days and nights he spends at home when Kaito has been away on tour for what feels like forever (a point which usually starts somewhere between the third week and the one month mark and doesn't end until Kaito comes home). It is about those times when he stands in front of the window at night and looks up at the moon, and when he lies awake in bed, unable to sleep because of the cold, empty spaces all around him. At those moments, he wishes more than anything that Kaito is there with him because Shinichi feels small and lost without him. He longs for Kaito's strong, reassuring embrace and that confident grin than seems to say that everything will turn out okay. And the longing is so strong that it aches.

That is when it happens.

Blushing because—despite the fact that this isn't the first time and probably wouldn't be the last—he still can't believe he's doing this, he slips out of his pajama bottoms and undergarments. Then he lays back down on the bed and spreads his legs.

He starts out just stroking himself, but it isn't exactly what he wants. Eventually he gives in and reaches into the nightstand for the bottle there. He hesitates only a moment before inserting a finger into himself. His face is hot with embarrassment at what he's doing, but it never stops him from adding a second finger then a third, pushing them in as deep as they would go before pulling them out and doing it again. Instead he closes his eyes and tries to imagine that it's Kaito touching him.

But even as he lies spent and shuddering with pleasure, he finds that the ache has only gotten worse. He misses Kaito more than ever.

But he knows he will do it again anyway, hoping that maybe next time it will be different.

Deep down though, he knows it won't, and he feels like an idiot for even thinking it.

Blue

Every time he sees blue eyes, he stops and takes a second look. Of course he knows it can't be his detective, but he can't help it.

The only downside of this is that one of the young women who works at the theater where he's performed most seems to believe he's sweet on her. The truth is that he can't help but stare because her eyes are not only blue but the same vivid, sapphire blue that Shinichi's are. He's not looking forward to breaking her heart, but he's sure she'll understand. From the few times they've spoken, she seemed like a kind and very level headed girl (another thing she has in common with his lovely detective).

Today is his last show in this beautiful but lonely city. He can't wait to go home.

Time

He's been watching the clock all day. Kaito's plane is scheduled to land at two (which is only ten minutes away now), and more than anything Shinichi wishes he's at the airport right now to greet him. But there's a homicide investigation going on, and the detective in him will not allow him to abandon a case, especially not when it might mean letting a killer get away with it.

Even so, the moment the clock strikes two, he feels like a weight has lifted from his chest. The knot in his stomach unclenches. Kaito is back in Japan now—one step closer to home and to him.

Notice

When he gets home, Kaito notices while putting things away that the bottle of lube in the nightstand which was almost new before he'd left is now half empty. He feels a surge of possessive jealousy, but it fades quickly because he knows that Shinichi isn't that kind of person. He thinks about it some more, and he suspects that he knows what happened.

Turning, his gaze lands on the bed, and he imagines Shinichi lying there touching himself. The thought makes him smirk, and he wishes Shinichi wasn't still at work.

He never says anything about it though because he knows that Shinichi would be terribly embarrassed.

He does, however, make plans to come home earlier than scheduled sometime to surprise his lovely detective. If he is lucky, and he usually is, he can get himself a front row seat to the, ah, show while he's at it. He smirks at the thought.

Invitation

He is sitting in front of the TV with the news on but the volume turned down, trying to decide if he should try to sleep or not because jetlag is always a pain even for someone who needs as little sleep as he does. A sound draws his attention to the hall, and he's surprised to see Shinichi standing there because he'd thought the detective had gone to bed.

Shinichi is wearing one of his shirts, he notes. It hangs loose on the detective's smaller frame, the hem falling halfway down his thighs. Light steps carry Shinichi across the room. He pauses in front of Kaito before depositing himself on the magician's lap. Kaito's arms come up around him automatically. The magician realizes with a thrill that the oversized shirt is the only thing his detective is wearing.

It's an invitation and he takes it.

Satisfaction

Shinichi moans as he feels that famliar sting and stretch as Kaito enters him. It's been so long since last time that it hurts more than he remembers, but he welcomes the pain with the pleasure because this is Kaito—his Kaito. This is what he's been missing. And he wishes Kaito would stop being so gentle and screw him senseless already.

He decides to say so.

He can see the moment the magician snaps, and he knows he's awakened a beast, and maybe he should be afraid, but all he feels is glee.

And when he has to spend most of the next day in bed because walking is painful and sitting even more so, he feels nothing but a sense of satisfaction. Having Kaito bring him his meals and his books in bed is a plus.

-END-

Notes: I'm not sure if it was clear enough in the "Voice" section. The idea was that Kaito was carrying on a conversation "with Shinichi" by himself. So he was talking for them both.