SO. Funny story about this chapter - I kind of forgot where I was going with this when I wrote this part, so... it went in a different direction and now I'm not sure if it feels very complete. KILL ME.

Uh... hope you enjoy...? - Luna

Drinks On Me | Part Two

Kaito had come to this bar with the intention of drinking until he didn't remember his name. He had come with the intention of downing as many Long Island iced teas as it took before his chest stopped feeling as if he had inhaled a combination of embers and pepper. He had come with the intention of waking up with the world's worst headache and a dry mouth in some deserted alleyway tomorrow morning without the faintest idea how'd he ended up there.

He had not come with the intention of accidentally meeting tantei-kun. And then subsequently pouring his heart out to tantei-kun. Because that would've been completely ridiculous – tantei-kun despised him, as far as Kaito had known, and Kaito, well… he didn't mind tantei-kun, but he wouldn't really call them the best of friends. They didn't really interact outside of heists, for obvious reasons.

Yet here he was, Kaito thought dryly, as he threw back the dregs of his fifth drink and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, laying himself bare to the last person on the planet he'd expected to meet in this place.

Funny how things worked out sometimes.

He leveled a gaze at the counter. If he stared hard enough, he could make out the dull grain of the wood. "And so that's what happened."

"I see." Kudou looked pensive as he leaned onto one elbow. "So you're telling me that your best friend is Inspector Nakamori's daughter, and she found out that you're actually Kid last week?"

"I suppose that's the abridged version, but yes," Kaito answered sardonically, rubbing at his eyes. The room was starting to feel several degrees too warm, and the colorful array of bottles on the wall in front of him were starting to blur into one technicolor smear – the alcohol was probably finally starting to take effect, he realized. He let his forehead land on the countertop, a sigh escaping him.

Aoko's discovery of Kaito's identity had been fairly anticlimactic. She had walked in on him while he was putting away his Kid costume after a heist – apparently Kaito hadn't locked his front door, and he hadn't heard Aoko's footsteps, and he hadn't been expecting Aoko's soft, "Hey, Kaito, I couldn't find you after…" and her gasp, that terribleawfulquietdisappointed gasp as she saw what he was doing.

At first, Kaito had tried to say something – anything – but the words got stuck at the back of his throat, and he couldn't quite bring himself to try to dislodge them. Because after all, what was he supposed to say when his best friend discovered he'd been lying to her for the past five years?

In the painful, too-still silence, Aoko had gone a delicate off-white, her eyes had darkened to inky, fractured blue, and then she had gotten out a strangled, "Never mind," before she'd turned and left. There was no anger – just sad, sad disappointment, and that somehow made it much, much worse.

She hadn't been responding to Kaito's texts or calls. Or his voicemails or emails or letters left outside sticking out of her mailboxes. Or his visits to her house or the flowers he sent to her office.

Kaito had even lowered himself enough to call Hakuba, just because he knew Hakuba wasn't being shut out like he was (probably due to the fact that Hakuba and Aoko were, you know, engaged and living together and all), and when Kaito actually called Hakuba for help, that meant things were bad.

And since calling Hakuba hadn't even been useful in any way ("Aoko-san doesn't want to talk to you." "But –" "She doesn't want me to talk to you either, so I'm going to hang up soon." "Hakuba, you are so whipped." "It's talking to you or sleeping on the floor, Kuroba-kun. I'm pretty sure I just have my priorities straight." "Wow, Hakuba, I see how much our friendship means to you – hello? Hello?"), Kaito was now short one best friend and his dignity.

So as a last resort, he'd gone out drinking to a bar far, far from Ekoda and his problems, because if nothing was working out right, there was always alcohol, right?

And apparently there was also off-duty detectives who found it necessary to save off-duty thieves from overzealous admirers, Kaito reminded himself as he slid his glass towards the bartender, who took it and replaced it with a new drink wordlessly.

He glanced over his cup at Kudou, whose head was bent over the glass of rum he'd ordered. The detective seemed to be thinking hard, balancing his chin in his hand as he adopted a faraway look in his eyes.

Kaito took the moment to fully appreciate the fact that Kudou Shinichi was actually sitting next to him. Sure, he saw Kudou on a fairly regular basis, but at the same time, Kudou was always a mass of logical determination and calculated stares and smirks that could cut diamonds whenever Kaito saw him at heists.

Now, Kudou was more relaxed. There was a shallow curve to his spine, and the worn leather jacket he was wearing looked soft and pliable as it hung from his shoulders. His ankles were crossed in front of him, bent at the knee to avoid kicking the bar, his legs cutting sharp angles out of dark denim. His slightly overgrown hair curled at the nape of his neck, brushing against the collar of his jacket every now and again.

And there was something very refreshing, Kaito mused as he took a sip of his drink, about seeing Kudou like this, wearing the calm, relaxed part of himself that Kaito wasn't familiar with. Something very soothing, almost… pretty, maybe.

What a thought that was. Somehow, Kaito doubted Kudou would appreciate being called pretty, and by Kaito, of all people.

But he was pretty, somehow simultaneously pretty and rugged – at the very least, good-looking – and Kaito slanted his head as he watched Kudou. He certainly had an odd kind of aesthetic appeal, with that mix of delicate (neck, mouth, hands, eyelashes) and sharp features (eyes, nose, shoulders, jawline) ...

As he traced the angular slope of Kudou's jaw with his eyes, Kaito was, inexplicably, struck with the urge to reach out and touch him, run his fingertips around the curve of Kudou's neck and toy with the little sprig of hair sticking out by his ear, then maybe replace his hands with his lips –

Kudou looked over, startled out of his thoughts, when Kaito nearly overturned his chair. He lifted his eyebrows. "Are you… okay?"

Oh no, I've just been thinking about how pretty you are and how I want to touch your hair and kiss your neck. I'm perfectly fine.

It was the alcohol. It was definitely the alcohol.

"I'm fine," Kaito muttered instead, tearing his gaze away from Kudou's too-perceptive eyes. He could feel Kudou blinking at him. The thought of Kudou's gaze on him made a slow flush work its way up Kaito's neck.

To distract himself, Kaito took a sip of his drink, running a finger along the rim of the cup idly. His head was beginning to feel too full, too heavy. "You must think I'm pathetic," he remarked, quiet. "To have this kind of problem."

"On the contrary," Kudou replied, and his voice was halfway warm as he turned towards Kaito, opening his shoulders in Kaito's direction. "I went through the exact same thing."

At Kaito's dubious stare, Kudou quickly clarified, "Not that I was ever a phantom thief or anything." He rolled his eyes. "I mean that I had a secret I kept from Ran – you remember her, right? – for a long time, and when she found out, she didn't really react that…" He paused, giving a small cough. "Favorably."

It took Kaito a moment to realize that Kudou was talking about being Conan. His eyes widened. "You actually told Mouri-chan about that?"

"I didn't tell her," Kudou answered, almost sullenly. The ice in his glass clinked as if in agreement. "She overheard me talking to Haibara – in case you don't remember, she's the light-haired girl who was also shrunken – and kind of connected the dots." He smiled faintly. It wasn't a remotely happy smile. "I thought she was going to get angry and maybe kick me to death, but she didn't. She just sort of… broke."

Kaito just looked at him, silently encouraging him to go on.

Kudou sighed, leaning back a little. "At first, I kept trying to get her to talk to me, to have a conversation, to discuss everything. So I could make excuses and try to explain away why I'd lied to her for so long." He made a disgruntled sound. "But then I realized that me trying to talk to her wasn't what she wanted. She just wanted time. So I gave it to her."

"How long did you wait?"

"A month." Kudou let his head fall to one side, raking back a handful of his hair. "But then she called me, and we met up for coffee. It was a pretty stilted conversation – neither of us really knew what to say – but we're getting better. It's almost as if nothing happened."

A month. Something heavy sank to the bottom of Kaito's stomach, and he collapsed against the bar with a groan. His head throbbed against the wood. "You're saying I should just... wait?"

"Well, yes." Kudou paused. "Because it's not about the lying, really. It's more about the fact that you didn't trust her enough to tell her about something that was such a big part of you for such a long time. You didn't think your relationship could survive her knowing. She realizes that, and that's what's hurting her, more than anything."

Kaito smirked weakly. "Oh, so you're an expert on human emotion? How unexpected, tantei-kun," he said airily, but even he could hear the gratitude that had crept into his tone. He doubted Kudou would miss it, with the way he read people the same way a normal person might read a mildly interesting magazine article.

"And here I was trying to empathize with you," Kudou hummed, feigning haughtiness, but the twitch at the corner of his mouth gave him away. He reached for his glass and drained it, lips pink and plush against the curve of the glass.

"You know," Kaito murmured as he watched. He was starting to feel warm underneath his skin – in retrospect, maybe he shouldn't have had that fifth iced tea – and his head felt fuzzy and blurred. All he could really manage to focus on was the detective sitting next to him. The very pretty detective sitting next to him. "You know, Kudou, I'm drunk."

"Seriously?" Kudou glanced at him with concern. "I thought you said you were a heavyweight."

"I am," Kaito agreed, narrowing his eyes at Kudou. "I really am. I'm usually still fine after four drinks."

Kudou's eyebrows climbed his forehead. He cast a pointed look at the half-full glass sitting to the right of Kaito's hand. "Wait, isn't that, like, your sixth?"

"Mm," Kaito responded noncommittally. His elbow slid against the lacquered surface of the counter as he leaned on it, studying Kudou through half-lidded eyes. "Maybe? Wait... you're right. I think it is."

"Um…" Hesitating, Kudou glanced around the bar. "Well, I guess I can call you a cab or something – I don't know the train schedules for this area, after all –"

"I'm drunk," Kaito reiterated, and Kudou shot him a blank, unimpressed look.

"I may be wrong, but I think we've already established that –"

"I'm drunk, and you're pretty."

For a full minute, Kudou sat gaping at Kaito. "Excuse me?"

"I think," Kaito mused aloud, gaze sweeping over every visible inch of Kudou – Kudou seemed to recoil as he realized that Kaito was giving him an onceover – "that I must be drunk, because you're really pretty right now."

"Only right now?" Kudou muttered sourly, though Kaito didn't miss the surprised tremble of his fingers as he reached for his already empty glass. The barely-there bits of ice fell against his mouth as he tipped the cup back.

"Actually, I'm not sure," Kaito replied, mildly confused. If he thought about it… "I think I might always think you're pretty."

"O… Okay." Kudou set down the glass, then rubbed at the back of his neck with his left hand. Kaito got the feeling that he was feeling uncomfortable. The thought made him smile – he'd managed to discompose the always composed Kudou Shinichi.

Kudou shifted, hopping off his stool to stand. He didn't look at Kaito. "W-Well, I'm going to go… call you a cab, or something. You're clearly drunk."

As he tried to escape, Kaito caught his wrist. "Hey, Shinichi."

That got Kudou's attention. He whipped around, mouth parting, probably to spit out some variant of who gave you permission to call me by my first name, again?

But they'd never know what Kudou was going to say, because Kaito cut him off with a swift kiss.

It wasn't a particularly skillful kiss. Kaito's coordination was absolutely shit, and he somehow ended up sliding off his stool and wedging Kudou's arm underneath his and Kudou almost fell backwards. Their mouths slotted together messily; Kaito's bottom lip met Shinichi's front teeth rather forcefully, and their tongues sort of smacked unromantically into each other – but it wasn't a bad kiss. It couldn't be a bad kiss, not when Kudou tasted this sweet and Kaito could feel Kudou's pulse thumping away underneath Kaito's thumb and the inside of Kudou's mouth was this hot and sticky.

Kudou drew back with a gasp. There was pink along the crests of his cheekbones, and his eyes were too bright. "Kid, what the hell?" he choked out, eyes wide as he wiped his lips across the back of his hand.

"Like I said," Kaito answered, grinning uncontrollably – there was something sticky swirling through his veins, and his chest felt the lightest it had in a while – "I'm drunk, and you're always pretty."

Openmouthed, Kudou stared at him for a long, long time - Kaito was almost scared Kudou was about to punch him in the face - before he relaxed into a faint smile. "I seriously don't understand you," he grumbled, but the smile stayed in place. He turned to the bartender, who looked absolutely nonplussed, before throwing down a small stack of thousand yen bills. "Sorry about all this."

"Thank you for coming," the bartender stammered, bowing, and Kudou peered at Kaito as he started for the door.

"You coming, Mr. Phantom Thief?"

Coming out of his stupor – damn, Kudou had nice collarbones – Kaito blinked. "Huh?"

Giving a sigh of longsuffering, Kudou folded his arms across his chest. "I'm going to be a good person and get you home."

Kaito stared for a moment before he smirked. "So you're not just always pretty, you're also a good person?"

Kudou paused to consider. "Yes. Now shut up and tell me where you live."

"With pleasure."

So maybe, Kaito thought as he followed Kudou's back out of the bar and into the cool night air, he should start going to bars with the intention of meeting Kudou Shinichi more often.

Yeah... does this feel complete? I kind of can't tell. I don't have a very clear idea of where I would take this if I happened to continue it, so for now, I'm just going to mark it as complete.

Well, please consider dropping me a review if you enjoyed this in any capacity, and I'll see you all soon, my darlings! - Luna