(Phantom Thief AU) 

Authors note: I got inspired by a short Phantom Thief story I read so, if this seems similar, that's why.

Shuichi's POV

   I looked up at the clock as it ticked with each passing second. 11:36 I release a tired sigh. I've had to pull a few all-nighters trying to figure out the latest clues from this "Phantom Thief" I've been chasing for the past couple months.
His actions wrack my brain like a hammer to my skull. Constantly being on my mind and consuming my thoughts. He's smart and clever.

   He's a thief, but not one I've seen before. He steels from wealthy people, then less than 3 days goes by and he leaves an envolope at the detectives agency filled with stone cold evidence of the person he stole from, reveling that they got their fortune illegally, or has done something that's worth putting in jail for.
Then after we arrest them, the Phantom Thief returns what he stole with no clear indication of why he did so, other than he was possibly trying to justify his actions.

   But wealthy people aren't the only people he steels from. He will occationally steel items like blankets, food, and clothes with a clue to finding him and the items. But the thing is, he will specifically request for me to "chase him." Despite being small, he's very fast and nimble. But in the end it just turns into a wild goose chase. At the end of the chase, he would say something like "That was fun my beloved detective!" or "We should play again soon! I'll be waiting!" I keep wracking my brain around those strange actions. It keeps me up at night trying to figure out his motive.

After about ten more minutes of furrowing my eyebrows and staring at a screen with a deadly tired stare, a knock eccos through my small office. The door opens and my uncle smiles at me.

He walks a few steps and greets me, "Hey kiddo!"

"Hi uncle." I respond, not looking away from the screen.

"It's getting pretty late Shuichi, you should head home soon." My uncle informs.

    I used to live with my uncle when child services gave him the responsibility of raising me due to my careless parents.
They never liked me, and would cast me aside like an old toy you lost interest in. They didn't feed me never often or buy me the things I needed; saying things like 'it's a waist of money.' 

    So when my teachers in elementary school found out, the called child protective services and gave me to my uncle to raise me. I like my uncle, he's nice and treated my like a son. He raised my all throughout high school and collage and taught me about his work (which I later got invested into and later took part in.) So once I graduated collage I bought my own little apartment and he would occasionally check up on me.

I glanced up at the clock one more time and sighed once again. "Yeah, I guess your right." I said, packing up my things.

   He waited for me to finish getting all my stuff and gave me a ride to my apartment. When he left I took a shower and got into my trying to sleep. Even when I try to relax, the Phantom Thief makes his way into my thoughts. His latest clue made me anxious, it said he would be seeing me soon and said to get a good nights sleep. So I closed my eyes and let sleep consume me.

Time Skip to next day, brought to you by a sneaky thief.

   The sun peaks through the blinds of my nearby window and shines on my eyes as my alarm clock on my phone goes off signalling the start of another day.
I sluggishly peal myself of my bed and take a quick shower before getting into new clothes, quickly grabbing breakfast, and heading outside to my car.

   It's a short 10 minute drive to the detectives agency I work at, where I slowly loose my sanity trying to solve different cases. Even though I slept and hour or two more than I usually do yesterday, I'm still pretty tired.

Time skip to many hours later

I open my eyes when I feel a light tapping on my shoulder and small giggle. Aparently I fell asleep on my desk and my uncle is waking me up.

Or so I thought...

I lift my head off my desk, expecting to see my uncle but instead see a thief that has been causing me lots of stress and sleep.

"Hiya my beloved!!"

My eyes immeadatly go wide at the sight of the mysterious Phantom Thief and I quickly try to lunge at him. The thief dodges my attempt and giggles.

"Aww, trying to get me already? But we haven't even started the chase part yet!" He whines.

I roll my eyes at his childness attitude and lunge at him again, he dodges once more but then starts running and leaps out the window. Panic runs through my body and I look outside the window quickly.
I give a sigh of relief when I see him land on his feet. The window isn't very high but you can still beak an ankle if you don't land correctly.

My body starts running out of the building and down the empty streets. I grab my phone to call inform the agency of the Phantom Thief. 

"This is detective Saihara, I spotted the Phantom Thief and am after him right now! Send backup, it may be necessary!" I say into my phone while running.

"We have backup ready Mr. Saihara. Please inform us of your location." 

I open my mouth to reply but before I could, the thief smacks my phone out of my hand and giggles.
"We can't have unwanted guests now Saihara! This chase is between you and me!" He said with a smile. 

   Before I could pick up my phone he starts running and I have no choice but to run after him. He runs into a nearby alley way and out the back towards an old closed down indoor shopping mall.
   He swings the door open effortlessly, making me make a mental note that this is most likely his hideout or somewhere he has visited before, seeing how the door of a closed building isn't locked like it should be.

The thief sprints towards the door to the stairs that leads to the roof but when he pulls on the handle he discovers its locked.

"Shit!" He shouts.

With no other way to the roof he rushes into a elevator and desperately pushes the close button, hoping it would close before I get there.

Unfortunately for him, I leap into the elevator just as the door closes and we start elevating upwards. But when I leaped into the box, I hit the wall of it pretty hard.
I stumble to my feet, feeling a bit dizzy. As the elevator moves it suddenly makes some noises and halts to a sudden stop. The thief tries to push some buttons but it does nothing.

"Well it looks like we're stuck here my beloved!" He says to me. The Phantom Thief gasps.

"W-what?" I ask.

"Your head it bleeding! And I can't have you passing out on me!" The white wearing boy says while pulling out some bandages from a pocket and walking to me. 

On reflex I take a step back and he give me a small pout.

"Come on Saihara, I won't hurt you. I could never do that!" He informs urging me to bend over a little so he can reach my head. I reluctantly lean over and the boy wraps a bandage over my wound.

"Well you have caused me some stress and sleep less nights.." I mumble. 

"Aww how thoughtful of you my beloved."

"How is that thoughtful?" I ask as he steps back after bandaging my head.

"It means your super invested in me! You think about me all the time don't you!" He giggles.

"Well...I guess your right." The boy looks away with a slight pinkish glow on his cheeks. 

I've never really focused on his appearance since we are usually running during our encounters, but we are trapped together so I should take this opportunity.
While he stares at the numerous buttons on the elevator, I take mental notes of him. He has dark purple hair that becomes brighter at the gravity defying tips that stick outwards in different directions. his clothes are like a white suit with a checkered tie and white cape.
Though he is wearing a mask around his eyes, the rest of his face appears to be very child like.

The thief notices my staring and smirks at me.

"You should take a picture, it lasts longer!" 

I blush at his statement, "You know what? I've chased you for a long time now, so I think I deserve some answers from you." I demand.

The Phantom Thief gasps and sits down on the cold floor, "Am I finally going to interrogated by my beloved detective? If so then ask away!"

My brain takes a few seconds to think of a good question to ask him, this may be my only chance so I should choose my words carefully.

I take a breath,
"Why do you always insist on me chasing you, and over such simple things?"

The thief gives me a small and meaningful smile.

"That's because I like playing with you my beloved!"

"What do you mean by 'playing?'"

"What I mean is I like being with you Shuichi! I like having fun with you."

My cheeks turn pink at him calling me by my name. "O-okay..Why do you steal from people then expose them of fraud?"

"Because I hate people who commit crimes! Nee-hee-hee, but that's a lie. But why should you care? Those people did something very bad and I even return the stuff I stole!" He pouts.

"Because it's not really something thiefs would do. I can't help but feel like everything is a lie and that you have some evil plan behind everything."

The boy gasps once again,
"How dare my beloved Shuichi accuse me of being evil!" He starts crying and I panic.

"N-no no, That's not what I ment! I-I just ment you may have some other motive to stealing things!"

His tears immediately vanish and he gives me a grin.
"Nee-heehee I know silly! And your correct, I do have another motive!"

"And what is that?"

"I'm not going to tell you! You have to figure that out your self."

"But that's all I ever do! I have to try and solve your mysteries and it's super frustrating!" I shout.

The boy just stares at me with a surprised face.

"A-ah sorry. I've been really stressed lately and I'm not getting enough sleep." I inform.

He gives me a reassuring smile,
"It's okay Shuichi. I suppose you deserve a little break from solving everything. So would you like a hint?"

"Why would you offer me a hint? Don't you not want to be caught?" 

"Well maybe I want to be caught."

"Why would you-" He cuts me off.

"Do you want the hint or not Shuichi?"

"Y-yes!"

"Okay! I'll give you a hint in the form of a question. What do the things you chase me for have in common?"

I put a finger to my chin and think. He's talking about the blankets, clothes, and food. Well those are normal things you would normally need. So..

"They're normal everyday things?"

"Correct! Now, where do you think those things go?"

He's referring to how he doesn't returns those like he does with money.
I think for about five minutes, with him humming and rocking back and forth like a kid. It takes me as bit to get it but I think I know.

"The orphanage. It goes to the orphanage doesn't it?"

"Ding ding ding!! That's correct! I expect nothing less from my beloved detective!"

I can feel the blush on my cheeks, "Th-thanks but, why would you do that?"

"Because they need those! Plus, with me stealing those things, I get you to chase me!"

"Why do you want me to chase you so bad?"

The thief leans in close, making my blush become darker.

"Because the thing I what to steal the most comes from you." He whispers.

"A-and what is it you want from me?" I stutter.

He leans in even closer, and our noises are touching. He whispers again,

"Your heart."

The thief presses his lips onto mine. 

He..wants my heart? He wants...Me? Why would he like me? I'm just some random detective who's not even very good. But, his lips are soft. Do I want this? I think...

I do.

  I move my lips in sync with his and close my eyes tightly. I can feel a smile form on his lips as he kisses me gently. He places his hand on my cheek and caresses it gently.

  We pull away for air. I reach my hand up towards his face. I tug on his mask a little, looking at him for permission. He nods and I pull his mask of completely.

His eyes are a beautiful shade of purple and he smiles sweetly at me.

"Meet your beloved thief, Kokichi Ouma. Now tell me detective, how did you manage to fall for the thief your supposed to catch?"

I pull him into a hug and run my fingers through his hair. "I don't know. How did you manage to fall for some detective?"

Kokichi pulls away from the hug to look me straight in the eyes.

"Your not just 'some detective!' Your an amazing detective! You stuck with me and kept trying! Most would just try to find the things I stole and be done with it; but you kept thinking and investigating me. Plus your super cute." He winks.

I push my blush aside and pull Kokichi into another kiss. Never would I have guessed the one I love would be the thief I've been so invested into. But I guess I should've expected it.

Time skip to a few months later

The past couple months have been some of the best. Instead of steal, Kokichi would just expose bad and weathly people to the police.
And he moved in with me and we donate to the orphanage and other places that need money. Behind the whole stealing thing, Kokichi is a genuinely sweet and caring guy. I love him a lot.

Right now we are sitting on my couch, watching a movie and cuddling. He turns to me with a big a warm smile.

"Hey Shuichi?"

"Yes Kokichi?" 

He gives my lips a little peck.

"I love you."

"I love you too my beloved thief, you stole my heart and will never loose it."

"Never?"

I give him a sweet kiss.

"Never."

2414 words. 

I hope you enjoyed that! I really love this AU. Thank you for reading! <3

Have a Saiouma picture for any troubles you may have.<3