Prompt: “I won’t be good company.” “Doesn’t matter.”
It started at the Kid heist.
Like always, the taskforce treated Edogawa Conan as a child. A rather intelligent child that they occasionally turned to for advice on catching the elusive phantom thief, but a seven year old child nonetheless. It hurt, it always did. Conan’s most important secret was that he was actually ten years older than that; his real name was Kudo Shinichi, and he was a high school detective. If he had been able to be in his real body, they would have known, wouldn’t have treated him like this… and it wouldn’t have hurt so much.
But he smiled and pitched his voice to seem more child-like, and gave hints and figured out Kid’s plan, how he was disguised as Masumi (a truly risky idea), and they played their game, their battle of wits, all while the walls inside Conan’s mind felt like they were collapsing, squeezing, choking him, because it all hurt just too much for him to handle sometimes.
Of course, on the rooftop, Kaitou Kid noticed.
“Tantei-kun, a truly brilliant deduction,” Kid started. “But are you alright?”
“Of course I am,” Conan replied, a bit startled that Kid had noticed. But of course, Kid was intelligent, and perhaps Conan wasn’t as good at hiding secrets as he thought he was, with his rather vulnerable emotional state at the moment.
Kid opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it, studying Conan. Stop, stop, please stop, chanted a small voice in the faux child’s head, and Conan himself was unsure what exactly he wanted to stop: Kid’s analyzing, his impending mental breakdown, or perhaps just… everything. If he could go back to being Kudo Shinichi, then… He tried to stop these emotions from flashing across his face, but he wasn’t sure he succeeded.
“Take deep breaths, tantei-kun,” Kid said softly. There was clear concern in his expression. He crouched down to reach Conan’s height. “It’s okay to let it out.”
“No, it’s not,” he hissed. “You don’t understand what it’s like for me.”
Kid paused, then said, “You’re right, I don’t know what it’s like to be trapped in a body smaller than it should be. But I do understand what it’s like to keep secrets. That’s part of this, right? You don’t like lying to your friend Mouri-san, and everyone else you’ve known as a teenager. You don’t like lying to the people who didn’t know you even before this happened. I feel the same way. I have a close friend, but I can never tell her I’m Kid.” The thief pulled a smile. “I guess you can say I understand you a bit, huh?” He leaned over and hugged Conan.
The little detective stiffened, then allowed himself to relax in the magician’s hold. “Yeah… the lying is part of it. And of course, the fact that I shrunk… I’m never seen as what I actually am. It just hurts so much, and I want to tell them, but I can’t, because if they find out…” He shivered. “I don’t understand how Haibara can deal with this but I can’t. Doesn’t she hate it too? Being called a brat when she’s actually around ten years older?”
“She might,” Kid replied. “She just deals with it differently than you do, perhaps. Or she’s better at hiding it. Have you ever let her see you like this?”
No, Conan thought.
“If you haven’t, then maybe she’s even the same as you. You can’t jump to conclusions.” Kid continued. “You might not be alone. You can talk to her about this.”
“I kinda do,” Conan muttered. “I ask her to give me temporary antidotes.”
Kid sighed. “That’s not really talking to her about it. But if you’d rather talk to someone else, I’m here for you.”
Conan fought down the warm feeling blooming inside his chest at those words. “How can you be here for me? I only see you at heists, and it’s not even for long.”
A distant shout of “KAITOU KID!” in Nakamori’s voice supported this.
“Then you’ll just have to visit me, huh?” Kid grinned. “Are you okay now, tantei-kun?”
“...yeah, I think I am.” It wasn’t a lie this time. His brief conversation with Kid did help, and the idea that he wasn’t alone… it made him smile slightly. Not much, he didn’t want the thief to get smug.
“Well then,” Kid said, standing up. “I’m afraid I have to take my leave.” He tossed the stolen jewel at Conan, who caught it. “This is not the jewel I am looking for, so please return it to the kind inspector. And,” He handed Conan a card. “I’ll be there whenever you need me.” With that, he opened his hang glider and soared into the night sky just as Nakamori and a few more officers busted their way onto the roof.
After handing the jewel to Nakamori, hearing Masumi rage about the thief once again using her face, and returning home with Ran, Conan read the note Kid had left him. It was an address, a phone number, and a name.
Kuroba Kaito.
Conan smiled. “Thank you,” he whispered, before getting ready to go to sleep.
