Chapter Text
Kaito swung through his bedroom window and threw himself onto his bed with an irritated groan, that night’s heist target dropped next to him. “Who thought it’d be this hard to keep saving Shinichi from near death while involving the cloak?” he whined to himself.
It had been over two months since Shinichi had come back from his “long term case” and, despite him attending every heist Kaito had set up since, and having all of them inevitably end in some kind of dangerous situation for the trouble magnet that was his crush, Kaito had yet to find a way to save him via the use of Shinichi’s pelt. It was getting frustrating.
Honestly, he huffed to himself. A bomb threat, a hostage situation, a fire and an attempted murder via being pushed off the roof, and Shinichi barely looked bothered about it all beyond a few irritated glances at corvids while Kaito was ready to pull his hair out and had taken to carrying the pelt around with him during heists in case it comes in handy.
He turned to grab the night’s heist target and twisted it around, looking at the light sparkling through its faceted edges. He’d wanted to give it to Shinichi but when he’d said as much the detective had laughed and waved him off, his cheeks a faint red. Kaito smiled at the memory and made a note to research what gift giving meant to fae in general.
After a few minutes Kaito finally rolled off the bed and went to his desk, putting the gem away in one of the drawers. He would have to find a day to slip the gem back to the police with a “better luck next time” note along with it. As he snickered at the thought Kaito checked the calendar he kept at his desk and paused in surprise.
It was a little over a week until April Fool’s Day.
He hadn’t thought it was so close.
He bit his lip in thought. Silly as it may be to think, that day was the one that reunited him with his first love, even if neither of them had realized it at the time. He had to celebrate it, and with Shinichi too if he could.
He could hold another heist out at sea – that would certainly be a callback, in his opinion. And Shinichi was bound to be happy to have a reason to be near the ocean again. It would be rather sudden, sure, but honestly that’s what the police get for thinking they could predict Kaitou Kid.
His mind made up, Kaito sat down at his computer and began the research binge he’d need for his new heist, and the riddle that would have to come with it.
He went into school the next day with bags under his eyes and slept through all of his classes, but it was worth it to see Hakuba watching him suspiciously and, the next day, to see the newspaper announce his upcoming heist.
He was already looking forward to it.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Haibara said, her voice flat and arms crossed.
Shinichi turned and met her gaze, pausing in his self-assigned chore to clean the entire house as the places he hadn’t frequented while shrunk had all gained a coating of dust. He shrugged a little but didn’t go back to cleaning just yet. “They’re smart kids, very accepting, and incredibly perceptive. They’re bound to notice something’s off about me if we don’t.”
She hummed in acknowledgement but went silent to think over his proposal more and he went back to dusting the higher shelves in the library. He’d gotten them the first week he’d moved back into his house after being cured, but the dust had already returned. He grumbled to himself; he may be used to it, but keeping a house as large as his clean would always be time-consuming.
“Kaitou Kid has announced a new heist,” she said after a few minutes, putting their original topic of conversation to rest for the time being, and Shinichi smiled at the shelves he was cleaning.
“I saw, and received my own invitation in fact.” It was a rather simple card in design, but the fact Kid had even done that was rather flattering to him.
He moved to another shelf and could all but feel Haibara smirking at him. “Well aren’t you special,” she teased, and he hummed back, grateful that she couldn’t see his face turn a little red in response. “Do you know what the target is?”
“I do, in fact. He seems to be after a rather nice pearl that’s on display on a ship right now. The boat is at port currently and won’t be sailing until the day of the heist.”
“Any reason he’s going after that particular item? It doesn’t really fit with most of his other targets.” She sounded genuinely puzzled and Shinichi had to clear his throat to stop a nervous cough from escaping.
“Not to my knowledge,” he said, his voice strained and face burning hotter.
The silence that followed was very telling, and after a moment Haibara let out a disbelieving, “Sure,” and demanded he get her a book from where he was cleaning, which he was more than happy to do if it meant she would stop asking questions.
After he finished dusting he settled near her with his own book, smiling to himself at the thought of the invitation that had arrived at his doorstep, and the rose it came with.
He was quite excited to match wits on the day they had reunited again.
Kaito was waiting impatiently in the crowd, his disguise and face mask on as he kept a close eye on the clock while everyone around him chatted with one another, excited for the heist that was to come. As he turned to join a conversation near him Kaito spied Shinichi walking around the cordoned off area that displayed the pearl. He was scanning the crowd, clearly looking for Kaito, and the thief quickly turned back to the group he was listening to and made a comment, getting them to laugh in response.
After a few minutes he peaked back over, and saw that Shinichi had turned away, and was instead observing the target of the night. He was frowning at it thoughtfully, and Kaito blinked as a thought occurred to him. Could Shinichi tell if a pearl was fake or not? Was there some kind of resonance between Selkies and other items from the ocean? Akako had mentioned that the pelt was able to repel other creatures from the ocean, but he didn’t know how that affected Shinichi directly.
At the thought of the pelt Kaito’s hands twitched but he squashed down the impulse to check on it, trusting his disguise skills to keep it safely on his person.
And that’s when the intercom chimed, and everyone hushed to listen to the announcement. “We will begin our departure,” the man on the other side said, and Kaito made sure to memorize his voice and speech patterns just in case. “We hope you enjoy sailing with us tonight.”
The intercom clicked off and everyone began talking at once, their excitement returning with the proof that everything would continue as scheduled. Kaito checked his watch to make sure and hummed, satisfied. The departure was right on time. He adjusted his sleeve to cover the watch again and looked up to see where Shinichi was on his patrol route before frowning.
Shinichi wasn’t near the display.
A quick glance at every other location that had members of the police or task force confirmed that his detective was no longer in the room at all, and Kaito had to bite back the worry that rose within him at that.
Instead he turned to another person that was watching the display like a hawk. “Hey,” he said, getting her attention if the annoyed look she threw him was any indication. “Where did that one guy go? The teen that was walking around the pearl?”
“He went outside,” she said, her voice clipped and irritated. “Though why the police even allow that guy near the target when none of us are is beyond me.” She sniffed and returned to watching the target, and didn’t even respond when Kaito offered her a thanks for the information.
He sighed internally. Some fans really were a bit too into it.
He slipped away to one of the exits and made his way outside, hoping he would run into Shinichi on that side and he wouldn’t need to go through the entire crowd again to get to the other side. He perked up as Lady Luck smiled on him and he spied Shinichi leaning on the ship’s railing a few feet away. He snuck closer and was contemplating surprising his detective when Shinichi turned his head to bring Kaito into his line of sight and offered him a slight smile. “Needed some air?” he asked, and Kaito nodded, offering up a polite smile rather than beaming at him like he’d wanted.
“Yeah, it’s getting a bit stuffy in there,” he said back, and Shinichi hummed in agreement before turning back to the water below them. Kaito watched in interest. “You seem lost in thought,” he noted, and Shinichi remained quiet for a moment as he thought.
“A bit,” he admitted. “I haven’t been this far out in the ocean in…months.” He said the last word as if it genuinely surprised him, and Kaito couldn’t help but feel for his love at the lost look that flickered across his face.
“Well hopefully you’ll be able to visit more soon,” Kaito said firmly, and Shinichi laughed a little but didn’t bother turning around again.
“That would be very nice,” Shinichi agreed, before sighing quietly. “You should probably make sure everything is in place, Kid. I’ll be in soon.”
Kaito froze in place out of instinct before letting out a laugh and dropping the voice he’d been mimicking. “Sure thing, Meitantei. Try and keep up.”
And so Kaito went back into the display room with Shinichi laughing behind him.
Shinichi panted for breath as he rounded a corner and continued pursuit of Kid, Inspector Nakamori’s bellowing and Kid’s laughter the only sounds in his ears. He ducked beneath a smoke pellet and kicked off the wall to go above the trip wire he saw gleaming in the dim lighting. He kicked a soccer ball up ahead and smirked as Kid’s laughter cut off in an abrupt yelp.
So far the night had been going well, Kid beginning the chase and Shinichi taking point in pursuit of him. It was all going like the last few heists had, and Shinichi thought back to the map he’d memorized and predicted they would be up on the deck in three floors and Kaito would hold the pearl up to the moonlight in that strange ritual of his. Then Shinichi would make another attempt to get the pearl back and the night would proceed from there.
Just as he’d thought, they exited the maze of hallways and ran onto the deck, Shinichi looking upward while members of the Kid Task Force swung their flashlights around wildly.
When they finally landed on Kid, Shinichi had to admit that it looked rather impressive, the beams looking more like spotlights that made the white of his suit glow. He offered them all a cheeky bow and Shinichi quietly had a soccer ball ready. “They may say that slow and steady wins the race, Inspector, but I don’t think that works if you’re chasing a phantom!” He held the pearl aloft and Shinichi watched as he always did, head cocked to the side to better angle his gaze.
It didn’t do anything, but Shinichi hadn’t really expect it to – it was a pearl, after all. It seems that Kid was of a similar mindset, as he simply shrugged and made it disappear with a flick of his hand. “Unfortunately, I don’t believe this to be –”
The rest of his spiel was interrupted as the crack of a gun suddenly went off and Shinichi dropped to the ground on reflex. When he peaked back up a man was on a higher platform, dressed completely in black, and Shinichi felt his heart lurch at the sight.
Another Organization member! But all of them should have been detained. As his brain whirled Shinichi snatched a flashlight from a nearby Taskforce member and directed it toward the man. He fired a few more shots and Shinichi followed the trajectory to where Kid had previously been standing. A fire heated his veins and Shinichi growled under his breath, his hand moving to narrow the intensity of the beam as he stood up. Then, with careful precision, he aimed it directly at the shooter’s eyes.
Even from this distance Shinichi could hear the man let out a curse as his shot went wide from where Shinichi spied Kid and the man turned to him, his hand up to shield his eyes from some of the glare.
And then Shinichi backed up, doing his best to not give away his movement by keeping the beam of the flashlight steady on the man. A gunshot went off and Shinichi flinched as it dug into the wood directly in front of him. He backed up further, and then three things happened at once.
First, he noticed that the Taskforce were now up and approaching where the shooter was stationed, on the move now that he had been properly distracted.
Second, his back hit against the railing of the ship, startling him into stilling.
Third, pain flared along his arm as a bullet grazed it, causing him to cry out in pain and drop the flashlight. He curled up defensively and turned away, pain flashing red behind his eyelids as the movement caused his head to collide with the railing.
He wobbled, crumpled to the ground, and felt the world spin around him. As he leaned forward, he only had a moment to think fleetingly that the railing was in this direction before gravity took hold of him and fell.
And, with the probably concussion and bullet wound, as he hit the water, he did as he’d told Haibara morosely months ago and sank.
The world around him was dark, the night and lack of his pelt doing him no favors as his sense of direction was lost, the pounding of his head erasing his brain’s frantic chant of I am sinking down, I am sinking down.
He felt his lungs begin to strain as air was leeched away by the water, and kicked weakly to try and straighten out his position.
His legs moved like lead weights were tying them down, and Shinichi could only feel a creeping sense of fear. He didn’t want to die like this, rejected by the ocean as it thoughtlessly killed him.
And then, suddenly, a flood of warmth went through his veins and the ocean around him began to glow with unearthly light, the moon’s radiance magnified in his eyes, and he snapped them closed. Something brushed against his shoulders before wrapping around him and Shinichi gasped, his brain struggling to register what was happening. He felt his breath start to leave again before it was abruptly stopped, and Shinichi blinked his eyes open again, trying to clear up his hazy vision.
Kid had his mouth pressed against Shinichi’s, preventing him from losing air, and when he realized that Shinichi had opened his eyes again he pulled away and smiled at him, his eyes soft and unobstructed by his monocle.
Shinichi smiled back and, with his pelt now reunited with him, transformed into a seal and took them to the surface, Kid’s arms wrapped around him. As he breached the water he transformed back and laughed, treading water without any effort. “I guess that’s one way to give me my pelt back,” he said, and Kid lifted his hand to brush some of Shinichi’s soaked hair out of his face, his gloves still on and waterlogged.
“Honestly, I don’t think a better opportunity will ever present itself,” Kid said, before leaning forward to bump their foreheads together. “And by the way, my name is Kaito.”
Shinichi turned so that their noses would brush together. “Kaito, it’s good to finally make your acquaintance.”
And, in the dead of night, in the middle of an ocean, without the fear of death motivating their actions, the two of them kissed.
*Omake*
“Shinichi, I had a question for you.” Kaito looked at his boyfriend, watching him walk around the library and pick up any misplaced books he found, his pelt draped around his shoulders. He could all but feel Shinichi’s returned health as he hummed to himself, and Kaito smiled to himself as Shinichi put the pile of books he’d accumulated on a table and turned to face him.
“Ask away then.” Shinichi watched with interest as Kaito ran his hands down his shirt to try and gather himself.
“Do you know where Pandora is? It’s the gem I’ve been looking for all this time.”
Shinichi hummed a little and turned his face up to the ceiling, clearly running the name through any gems that he knew. “Nothing comes to mind. Can you describe it?”
Kaito wobbled his hand a little. “Only a bit. Apparently it’s a large gem that has another inside of it. If you hold it up to the moon the inner jewel glows red. It’s believed to grant immortality to anyone that drinks the liquid it releases on the night some big comet appears in our sky.”
The more he described it the more the interest and suspicion on Shinichi’s face grew, and when he stopped Shinichi sat on top of the table he’d been leaning against and rested his chin in his hand, humming so lowly that Kaito could barely hear him. After a minute Shinichi looked up, a glint in his eyes. “I think I know where it is, but it’s kind of unreachable to those who can’t go deep into the ocean.” He smiled at Kaito and jumped back off the table, suddenly a bundle of energy. “Come back in a week and I should have it.”
Kaito barely managed to get out an, “Um, thanks,” before Shinichi disappeared up the stairs. He thought about waiting his boyfriend out to try and get any more information from him, before deciding to take him on his word and see him in a week.
When he came back seven days later, the young girl that Shinichi claimed was a half-fae was there, and frowned at the sight of Kaito. “He got back a few hours ago,” she told him, and he blinked a little in surprise as she went back into the house and followed behind.
“He was gone this entire time?” He asked, and she gave him an irritated look but nodded in confirmation. When they made it to the library they found Shinichi, curled up on the couch with a blanket over him and a large amethyst on the coffee table in front of him. Kaito picked it up gently, a lump forming in his throat, before he cleared it and hoped the look he shot his boyfriend wasn’t as besotted as he suspected it was. The little miss’s amused snort didn’t give him good chances. “Where was it?” He asked, curiosity getting the better of him.
The little miss sighed. “Apparently it sunk with the rest of those idiots on that island nation a few millennia ago, but Kudo-kun remembered hearing a mermaid talking about when he was younger.”
Kaito stared at the gem as he processed that, and slowly turned his head to her. She looked back blankly, before amusement curled at her lips. “It was in Atlantis?” He choked out.
*End Omake*