Mikau: Hello there and welcome! Thanks so much for taking an interest in my work. This one I'm planning on being a little two-shot. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up in about a week or so. I shouldn't be too busy now that finals are over. Well, without further ado, enjoy!

Disclaimer: If I owned it, Heiji would show up more often. I love his accent. Hearing it reminds me of all my neighbors, classmates, and students and how they spoke when I was in Kyoto.

…

Becoming Friends

Bad day didn't even begin to cover it. Ran had come home with a big announcement: the captain of the karate team had asked her out. When "Conan-kun" had made big-eyed inquiries into what she planned to tell "Shinichi-niichan", Ran had just snorted and made a rather rude remark.

And so Shinichi was downstairs in his favorite booth at Poirot's, sulking not only because he'd lost the love of his life but also because he couldn't even have a cup of coffee to drown his misery in.

With a giant sigh, the great detective blew bubbles in his mug of chocolate milk.

Unexpectedly a red rose appeared.

Shinichi slowly looked up but saw only his own face grinning back at him, as if he were gazing into a mirror from his past. He blinked, taking off his glasses and cleaning them on his shirt.

"I'm Kuroba Kaito. Pleased to meet you," his doppelganger laughed.

Shinichi replaced his glasses and blinked again. Then it dawned upon him. "Kid!" he screeched.

"Where?!" "Kuroba" exclaimed, whipping his head around to look in excitement. Finding no one, Shinichi's double looked back at the gradeschooler with a pout. "Where?"

"You!" Shinichi snapped, standing on his seat and pointing at his dining companion.

"Ha!" Kuroba snorted, pushing Shinichi's finger away and tucking the previously proffered rose into the smaller boy's chest pocket. "I wish. He's my hero. Nah, name's Kuroba Kaito. What's yours?"

"Kaitou Kid, more like it," Shinichi muttered. "Edogawa Conan. I'm surprised you don't recognize me from the heists."

"Oh, I do; it's just rude to start up a conversation without being properly introduced. I know full well who you are," Kuroba chuckled.

"So you admit it, then," Shinichi snorted.

"I never admit anything." Kuroba shrugged.

"You're just as insufferable in real life." Shinichi rolled his eyes.

"Geez, I'm not Kid," Kid laughed. "You're just as bad as Hakuba. He's accused me of being Kid-sama too. Like, every day for a while there until the time he handcuffed me to himself during that one heist."

Shinichi blinked once more. "You…know Hakuba Saguru the Superintendent's son?"

Kuroba nodded sharply. "Yeah. The jerk's got a stick shoved somewhere real uncomfortable, if you asked me. He's my resident pain in the butt. We're classmates…and love rivals, unfortunately. Nakamori-keibu's daughter, Aoko."

Shinichi frowned. "Kid is classmates with Hakuba-san and dating Nakamori-keibu's daughter? Go away. You're making my head hurt."

"At least it's a distraction from your heart…. And I'm not Kid," Kuroba added.

"Go away. I'm having a bad day." Shinichi used his "little kid disguise" to get away with pouting.

"So I gathered," Kuroba snorted with a roll of his eyes. "You've got heartbreak written all over your face; that's why I stopped in here…. Care to talk about it?"

"Ran's got a boyfriend, and it's not me," Shinichi sighed, blowing more bubbles in his milk.

The other boy winced. "Man. Sorry."

Shinichi shrugged. "It's not like things were working out between us with me like this. I'm glad she's happy, but…crap, this sucks."

"I bet." Kaito was unsure if he should be asking who "Ran" was or what "Conan" meant by being "like this". Truthfully, he already knew, but…he wasn't supposed to know. "Anything I can do?"

"Coffee," Shinichi answered immediately. "Buy me coffee and I'll love you forever."

Kuroba blinked. "Seriously? You're kind of easy."

Shinichi sent a stale glare across the table. "Don't make me beg. I want coffee."

"Geez, you are serious," Kuroba hummed thoughtfully. "Coming right up. How'd you like it?"

"Strong enough to strip paint," Shinichi replied levelly.

Kid blinked again, trying to decide whether or not to ask if the detective were joking. "Okay. Battery acid. Got it. I personally like mine with predominately cream and sugar and only a drop or two of coffee, but to each their own, I guess."

A few minutes later, Shinichi was blissfully sipping his varnish remover as Kaito looked on in awe. "You weren't kidding. You really do like the dark stuff."

Shinichi only hummed contentedly.

"At least you look less destitute now," Kuroba mumbled, picking up the abandoned cup of chocolate milk and downing it. "You'd looked like someone had kicked your puppy when I walked by and saw you through the window."

Shinichi's eyes went wide. "K-k-k-k-k-kiss! Indirect kiss!"

Kaito could only stare. "Really? How old are you, Tantei-kun? Like, nine?"

"Eight!" Conan snapped, looking like there was a bad taste in his mouth that he desperately wanted to get out. "Gross!"

"Gross is dealing with dead stuff day in and day out. I have superb dental hygiene; I'm not gross," the Shinichi-lookalike sniffed indignantly. "Besides, I'm the one drinking milk that you blew bubbles in. If there's anyone who should be screaming 'Gross!', it's me. Indirect kisses are not gross." A mischievous smirk started in the corner of Kuroba's mouth and spread across his lips. "It would be different if I reached across the table and planted one on you."

Conan shuddered, eyeing his companion warily. "You wouldn't dare, Kid."

"Kuroba," Kaito corrected with a chuckle. "And probably not…in public."

The detective crinkled his nose up in disgust. "You know, there's nothing gross about solving murders…and it's not my fault that they pop up everywhere I go…. It just…happens."

Kuroba frowned, glancing around the restaurant as if he expected someone to drop dead on the spot. Come to think of it, people only ever died at heists when "Conan" was around. "That must be…stressful."

"I feel terrible saying this, but…it adds excitement to my life," Shinichi sighed.

Kaito raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, I spend my days in first grade. There's not much mental stimulation there for a detective." Conan raced to his own defense. "I don't like it when people drop dead around me like mosquitoes, but catching the culprit makes sure that justice is done and gives me a reason not to bang my head against a wall in boredom."

Kuroba nodded, humming pensively. "Do you like riddles?"

Conan rolled his eyes. "You know I do, Kid."

"Kuroba."

"You know I do, Kuroba. Kid heists are some of my favorite cases. People don't usually get hurt, it's a wonderful adrenaline rush, and most everything that gets stolen is returned." Conan smirked, setting down his coffee mug. "You're not a bad guy, you know. You're nuts—that's for sure—and I don't quite get why you take stuff only to give it back, but you're a good guy."

"You mean Kid-sama." Kaito returned the smirk. "But, yeah. I'm a good guy too…and kinda nuts. Wanna play a game with me, Tantei-kun?"

"What sort of game?" Conan's ears seemed to perk up at the proposition.

"Kind of like hide and seek. I'll give you a clue as to where and when to meet me, and you come on that date and time to that place. Sound fun?"

Conan gave a genuine smile. "Yeah. Yeah, it does. What's my first clue?"

Kaito bit his lip in thought. "Hmm…tomorrow, when the hands that appeared to vanish that night reach toward the sky and she cries out to God, find me sitting at her feet. How's that?"

Conan frowned, puzzling over "hands"; however, it took less than a minute to solve the riddle. "I'll be there at noon. Make the riddle harder next time, Ki—Kuroba."

The magician shrugged. "I thought it was pretty okay for coming up with it off the top of my head."

Conan smiled softly. "Listen, I have to get back home before Ran starts worrying about me, but thank you for coming in and talking with me and...and for the coffee."

"My pleasure. Need me to walk you home? It can be dangerous for kids at this time of night in Beika, and it sounds like you've got some pretty bad luck," Kaito offered.

"Thanks, but I live just upstairs. I doubt something terrible's going to happen to me between here and the staircase. Thanks, Kuroba." Conan gave one last smile before finishing his coffee and getting up to go. "It was…nice hanging out with you. I look forward to our meeting tomorrow."

"Same here, Tantei-kun." Kuroba gave a smart salute and his trademark grin.

…

"We first met here, didn't we?" Shinichi mused as he came to a stop by Kaito, sitting on the steps of the old clock tower.

The magician chuckled, resting his chin in his hand. "Tantei-kun, we met last night in a coffee shop."

Conan grinned sheepishly. "I mean…Kudo Shinichi-niichan told me that he first met the Kaitou Kid here. Kid had sent out a heist notice for the tower to protect it from being demolished, and Shinichi-niichan came and nearly caught him…. In retrospect, he shouldn't have shot at him."

"Just like Kid-sama shouldn't of tasered you," Kaito sighed, looking down at his feet. "He probably wasn't thinking at the time. No matter how big that brain of yours is, your body is still just a kid's. It was dangerous."

Conan shrugged. "I forgive him. I was fine. I mean, nothing bad happened. It could have, but it didn't."

Kuroba looked up and blinked a little stupidly before breaking out into a wide grin. "Thanks, Tantei-kun. I'm pretty sure the whole shooting thing wasn't such a big deal either."

"Good. I'll be sure to pass that along to Shinichi-niichan," Conan chuckled. "So…what are we doing here?"

"Going to lunch at that family restaurant over there?" Kuroba nodded towards the little shop across the street. "My treat?"

Conan looked and nodded his approval. "Yeah, sure. Thank you, Kuroba."

"Don't mention it. I'm glad I could help get you out of the house." Kuroba shrugged, pushing himself up to standing.

"You sound a little sad, Kuroba," Conan noted.

"Can't get anything past you detectives, can I?" Kaito chuckled weakly, looking up at the clock tower. "Nakamori Aoko texted me this morning. She said that Hakuba had asked her out and she'd said 'yes'."

"Kuroba…" Shinichi was at a loss for words. "…is there anything I can do?"

"Tomorrow…Sunday. Meet me in the garden of the town named for the nymph that loved Narcissus. Meet me where the foxes gather in the woods when the arrow aims east…. Is that a better riddle, Tantei-kun?"

Conan nodded. "I'll I've got is Echo and 3:15 for now…. You don't mean Ekoda, do you? I'll have to do some investigating when I get home. Is there anything I can do now?"

"Let's get lunch and chitchat," Kaito suggested. "And then after lunch I'm going to eat an entire chocolate ice cream parfait by myself."

Conan smiled sadly. "Sounds good. Race you to the restaurant?"

"On three, or three, then go?" Kaito smirked.

"On three." Conan smirked right back, taking his mark.

"Three!" Kuroba shouted, taking off.

…

"Do you come to this Inari shrine often?" Shinichi asked softly, not wanting to startle Kaito as the (currently) taller of the teens stared off into space.

He looked so peaceful leaning against the bright red torii gate and looking up at the late September leaves just starting to change their color. Sunlight was streaming in through the breaks in the leaf cover, lighting up the magician's face and making his hair gleam.

Kaito smiled sadly. "My old man used to bring me here when I was a kid…. He passed when I was eight."

Shinichi nodded, biting his lip. "I'm sorry."

"I have a favor to ask." Kuroba turned to face his friendly rival.

"Sure. Go ahead," Shinichi replied when it seemed like the magician wasn't going to say anything.

"Chase me," Kaito whispered, looking away with a bit of a blush.

Conan blinked and then smiled. "Sure. What do I get when I catch you?"

Kaito snorted. "'When'? You'll only catch me if I let you, Tantei-kun…. What do ya want?"

The detective chewed on the inside of his cheek in thought. "Hn…buy me coffee?"

At this Kaito laughed. "You are easy, Tantei-kun! Alright. One cup of coffee, if you catch me. Go!"

Kaito took off, zigzagging through the trees, sometimes hooking his arm around a trunk and using his momentum to swing his body in a new direction. The clown hopped up into the trees and leapt from branch to branch like a monkey.

"Not fair!" Conan shouted. "I'm too short to climb up there and get you!"

"There were no rules!" Kaito laughed with glee.

Just then, the branch he had landed on broke, sending the magician back to the ground hard.

Conan tried to throw on the breaks but only ended up tumbling and landing on top of Kaito.

"Ughf," Kaito coughed, the air having been entirely knocked out of him.

"Hey, you okay?" Shinichi cried out in concern for the magician beneath him.

Kaito smiled. "Looks like you caught me after all, Meitantei."

"Oi, Kuroba, you sure you're not hurt?" the detective pressed.

Kaito just shrugged. "Only my pride. Don't worry. I take spills like that all the time; I know how to fall." The magician picked up the detective that was straddling him and set the smaller boy down beside him. "When did you want your coffee?"

"Wednesday night?" Conan asked hopefully.

Kaito nodded, a peaceful smile taking over his face. "Thanks for that. I feel better now."

"G-Good," Shinichi stuttered, studying the contours of his companion's face.

"Look at that cloud." Kaito pointed with a chuckle. "It's a whale."

"Looks like a regular fish to me."

Kaito shuddered. "No. It's definitely a whale."

"If anything, it's a dolphin," Conan argued just for the sake of arguing.

"It's a whale," Kaito pouted. "…Well, how about that dragon?"

"Lizard." Conan smirked.

"Dragon," Kaito snorted. "Look! Look at that platypus!"

Conan opened his mouth to debate but promptly closed it once more. "Geez. You're right. That is one hell of a platypus."

"What about the snake next to the not-lizard?"

"Earthworm," Conan replied as flatly as he could.

Kaito glared at his friend before pushing the boy down into the grass. "Your angle's all wrong. Look again. Look at that giant bunny rabbit."

"Hn." Conan moved his head over to rest against Kaito's. "Ah. I see it now."

"Told ya so," Kaito tittered.

…

"I don't feel comfortable going to an art museum with you," Conan stated blandly over the phone once he had figured out the latest clue that Kuroba had sent him.

Kaito just laughed. "If I were Kid and if I were going to steal anything, I would have sent a heist notice. We're just going to walk around and then get coffee at their café. You said you wanted to meet for coffee on Wednesday, didn't you?"

"I was thinking we could just go to Poirot again, Kuroba," Conan explained.

"Yeah, but I wanna go to the art museum. They've got some cool stuff I want to check out," Kaito pushed.

"More like case for your next heist," the detective grumbled.

Kaito rolled his eyes. "Come on, Tantei-kun. Come to the museum with me. I'll be waiting there at five o'clock, and if you stand me up, I'll get really upset."

"What is this, a date?" the boy detective snorted. "Fine. I'll be there, Kuroba, but don't make me regret it."

"Trust me, the coffee's top notch," the magician assured. "And I'm not Kid."

…

The same old boring art museum that Shinichi had been to nearly a hundred times took on a new life with Kuroba there beside him. The magician tugged him around from one piece to the next, gushing about the composition, use of light and color, subject, artist, and time period.

"Just what you'd expect of an art thief," Conan mused.

"This one's my favorite." Kaito came to a stop in front of a painting about seven feet wide and five feet tall. "You see some new aspect of it every time."

It was a futuristic city made up of towers of buildings, one on top of the other, all connected by walkways suspended in the air. There were flying machines and blimps, cogs and gears, and all sorts of balloons. It was an odd, mismatched picture that somehow seemed to fit together seamlessly. It was so detailed. Kaito was right; you could probably find something new in the picture every time you looked at it.

"Wow," was all Conan could think to say.

"I know, right?" Kuroba chuckled, looking on in awe. "Just think of the amount of time and creativity that went into this thing. It's amazing, right?"

Conan nodded, looking at the tiny telescope placed on top of one of the innumerable rooftops. "You know, I've probably passed this by dozens of times and never even noticed when I came here on fieldtrips. Thanks for playing tour guide, Kuroba. This has been a really enjoyable evening."

"Yeah? I'm glad." The magician beamed. "Ready to go get some phenomenal coffee?"

"I'm always ready for coffee."

"I knew you'd say that," Kaito chuckled softly. "This-a way."

…

"You've got a huuuge sweet tooth, don't you?" Conan snickered ten minutes later as Kaito sighed blissfully, savoring his hot chocolate.

"Ooooh yeah," the prankster confirmed. "It's my weakness. Hook me up to an IV drip of milk chocolate, and I'd be a happy camper. I could live on sugar."

"Ha! No wonder you're so hyper," Shinichi snorted. "I bet you were a handful as a kid."

Kaito shrugged. "I behaved pretty well. My old man taught me to be a gentleman…. He also taught me to be a prankster too, but I knew how to stay out of the bad kinds of trouble…. A skill I have since lost in a bad way."

"You're in trouble?" Thin worry lines formed on Conan's brow.

"Ah…no…I…" Kaito bit his lip, trying to come up with some clever half-truth.

"Come to think of it, I read a while ago somewhere that Kid's been shot at a couple times." The frown deepened.

"I'm…not Kid," Kuroba argued weakly.

Shinichi blinked. "Oh…. Right. Sorry."

Kaito shrugged it off half-hearted. "No worries."

"Could you tell me about your father, Kuroba? If you don't mind, I mean. You sound like you really look up to him."

Kaito's eyes lit up, and they spent the next twenty minutes talking about Kuroba Touichi.

It was very informative, clearing up a lot of the mystery that was Kuroba Kaito for the detective.

…

November had come to Tokyo, and so had Hattori Heiji. The Osakan detective showed up at the Mouri Detective Agency front door one Friday midmorning.

"Don't you have school? Ever?" Conan blinked slowly a few times when he saw his best friend standing where he should not have been.

"I'm skippin'," Hattori snorted, hands on his hips. "I've come t' meet Kuroba."

Conan blinked again. So much for his lazy day off school. "…Why?"

"Come on, Kudo. I'm yer best friend. You gotta introduce me t' yer new girlfriend sometime or another, right?" Hattori looked down expectantly.

Conan's entire face went red. "K-Kuroba's not my—"

Heiji laughed, bending down to tussle Conan's hair. "—Yeah, sure. I believe you. You only go on and on and on about her every time I talk to you. At the very least, I consider her competition. She's movin' in on my turf as your best bud, so I wanna meet her t' size her up, okay? How's that?"

Conan sighed, knowing he wasn't going to win. "Fine. Kuroba's at school. They've got a half-day today, so we'll head on over in an hour or so.

…

"Which one is she?" Heiji pestered, scanning the crowd, looking back and forth and back and forth. Honestly, he kind of looked like a rather excitable prairie dog.

Conan just chuckled. "See the two brunettes walking with Hakuba-san?"

Hattori's eyes flickered to his blonde nemesis and then to the mousy brunette girl beside him. He blinked. "Hey, Kudo, she looks exactly like Nee-chan! No wonder you're so smitten with her."

Before Shinichi could correct his friend, the Osakan marched right over to the trio and held out his hand to Aoko. "Hey there! Name's Hattori Heiji. I'm a friend of Kud—C-C-Conan-kun's. He's been telling me all about you. Pleasure t' finally meet ya, Kuroba-chan."

The Ekoda High students all looked on in confusion.

Conan rolled his eyes. "Oi, Hattori!"

Kaito smirked, stepping forward. "All good stuff, I hope? He's mentioned you a couple times too. Nice to meet you, Hattori."

Now it was Heiji's turn to be puzzled until Shinichi stepped in and explained.

"Hattori Heiji, meet Kuroba Kaito."

The Osakan looked back and forth between the detective and magician. "THAT's Kuroba?!" He looked the other regular-sized teen up and down. "You're a dude!"

Kaito just laughed. "Yeah, last time I checked."

"Don't be fooled," Hakuba Saguru chimed in. "Kuroba's pretty convincing in drag."

The magician stuck his tongue out at his classmate before turning his attention to Conan. "What's up, Tantei-kun?"

"My idiot demanded to be introduced to you, so here we are," Shinichi sighed.

"Aoko-chan and I were just about to go on a date that I believe Kuroba intended to crash," Hakuba informed. "If you'd like, we could always make it a double…plus Hattori."

"Aww, thanks, Haku-chan!" Kaito sang, scooping up Conan.

"Please don't call me that," Hakuba sighed, resigned to his fate so long as he kept Kuroba as a friend.

"It'll be more fun with more people," Aoko added, turning to Hattori. "Aoko's name is Nakamori Aoko, by the way. It's a pleasure to meet you, Hattori-kun."

"Pleasure…." Hattori was still a little out of it. "But…Kuroba's a guy?"

"Conan-kun and Kaito aren't really dating. They're all joking in bad taste," Aoko explained, scrunching up her nose. "Kaito's girl-crazy."

"I'm not that bad," the magician himself pouted.

"Yes, yes you are," Hakuba sighed. "Besides, Edogawa-kun is too young for you at the moment."

"'At the moment' being the operative words," Kaito snorted, holding the shrunken detective a little tighter.

"Kaito's just playing around," Aoko giggled. "Kaito and Conan-kun are like brothers."

"I see," Hattori mumbled.

"Where are we going?" Kaito poked Hakuba in the arm with his free hand.

"I was thinking we could go to Nancy's Café. You really liked their milkshakes the last time I took you there, didn't you?" the Brit replied.

Kaito nodded enthusiastically. "Let's go already!"

…

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Mikau: Snowman emot! Well, what did you think? Mostly it's just some nice fluffy moments between Conan and Kaito, but that's good now and then too, right? Anyway, thank you so much for reading, and if you have a minute as you exit, please drop me a review and let me know what you thought. As previous readers can testify, I take my readers' opinions under serious consideration when I'm writing, and they really help me know what I'm doing right/wrong so that I can give you better work product. Thanks again, and take care! Have a great holiday season everyone!