#[ also ! minor guest appearance of aoko ! ]

[iridcsccnt]

✶  @yoakkemae  |  工藤 — for the detective’s birthday !  .

「    Kaito seriously didn’t think he would be roped into one of Aoko’s excessive ideas, when he decided to take Kudō out somewhere nice for the latter’s birthday. It was meant with the nicest intentions, something Kaito sincerely wanted to do for Kudō, because he thought the great detective could do with a break from their not-so-stressless everyday life ( even if they didn’t exactly volunteer as much to take cases offered by the TMPD, there were other things they dealt with that weren’t so pleasant ).

“ Take him to somewhere romantic !! ” Aoko had yelled in an excited fit days prior to 4th of may, her blue eyes sparkling, only to have Kaito shove her aside in a grumble of ‘you’re not any help here’. “ Why not ? ” his best friend huffed out, but she didn’t particularly feel any offense at being shoved ; Kaito was too gentle toward her after all. “ If it should be somewhere nice, the safest bet would be somewhere Kudō-kun can relax. ”

“ ... ” The worst was ( and Kaito hated how ) that she was right; it was better to play it safe, when God knew Kudō was in much need of a break ( that's why Kaito was even thinking about taking them out ). “ But does it have to be somewhere romantic ? If this was France, I’d have it easier to play tour guide for him and show him around. ”

“ Then... then how about Tokyo Tower ? It's not exactly the Eiffel Tower, but it's pretty at night. Plus, not many tourists visit during this time of the season, so it'll be relatively quiet enough ! ”

“ How— how can I just take him to Tokyo Tower ? Wouldn't that immediately imply something ?? ” Well, partially, it did feel like it implied he was making an advance on Kudō, but the other reason was something Aoko didn’t know ( the Eiffel tower was where his parents had their first kiss, and Kaito sure as hell didn't want to think about ‘first kisses’ when taking Kudō up there ).

And so, after accusing himself that he must have gone crazy enough to agree, he went to ask Kudō if they had free time to hang out on their birthday.

‘ I’m still somewhat shocked that he agreed... ’ Kaito thinks to himself as the two step into the elevator to reach the top level, the most of the day gone by as city streets were already lit up, the sky gradually getting darker. ‘ I couldn’t even get this pleasant feeling off my chest since then, so why am I torturing myself again ? ’

But well... looking at the guy standing next to him from his peripheral vision, perhaps it was fine... this time.    」