The Phantom Thief of Hearts || Saiouma Phantom Thief AU

6

3rd Person POV

Shuichi woke up to his alarm. Once again, he had gotten close to no sleep- but today was super important, and he knew he had to get up immediately- so he scrambled out of bed and took a quick shower. As he was brushing his teeth, he studied himself carefully in the mirror. He tried to rationalize with himself. He didn't like the thief- there's no way-
Right...?
After getting ready and grabbing his hat and bag, he set out to get breakfast. He missed Kaede's cat café already, but nothing could be done about that. He was stuck eating the hotel's shitty breakfast buffet food- and although he wasn't too satisfied with it- he was grateful that it was something. And soon enough Shuichi found himself inside a New York City taxi cab with nothing but his bag, on his way to the One World Trade Center. He realized how lonely and sad the building would look before hours, especially since it was a gray day in the city, as it had rained the night before. And upon arrival he realized he was absolutely right. The sky was gray as ever, and the glass building disappeared up into smoky clouds. Shuichi shuddered. While humming to calm himself, he used his personally assigned keycard to unlock the automatic door, and stepped inside.
There are a total of 94 floors in the One World Trade Center building, so Shuichi decided to take the elevator rather than the stairs, since he didn't want to break his legs. As the boy rode the elevator higher and higher his ears began hurting from the elevation. He looked out the glass side of the elevator- at the city- and at all the cars down below, which from his perspective were so small they looked like a colony of ants. Riding the elevator higher and higher, Shuichi's body began growing tired of standing, and the pit of anxiety in his stomach only grew. He was terrified of the thief- but more so of his own opinion on him. He didn't want to evaluate whatever it was he felt when they kissed. They'd only known each other for a few weeks- and this is what Shuichi was doing with his new so-called sworn enemy? He hated the thief. He hated his snarky attitude. He hated the crimes he carried out. He hated it all. So why did the thief interest him so much- and why was the thief interested in him- if they're supposed to be enemies? Shuichi didn't want to confront his emotions. He was in denial over what happened, and wanted to hide from facts for as long as possible. Shuichi had a habit of running from his problems, so this wasn't really anything knew for the boy. Part of him was disappointed in himself, but he wasn't surprised.
Shuichi was snapped out of his thoughts as he heard the elevator make a ding sound. He gripped his bag as he stepped out of the elevator nervously, walking down a hallway of glass, too scared to look down. He reached a double door, which he pushed open, only to realize he was on the balcony of the very top floor. Afraid his hat would blow off, he took it off and shoved it into his bag- before fully stepping outside. He looked over to the side of the balcony and saw a familiar figure seated on the ledge, legs dangling down. Shuichi paled at the sight- fearing the phantom thief would fall to his death. Acting quickly, Shuichi grabbed the boy by the cape and pulled him back onto the balcony. And so the thief laid there, knocked onto his back, dazed and confused. However in the moment, Shuichi lost balance and stumbled, falling onto the other boy, so it looked like Shuichi had pinned him to the ground.
Shuichi's face flushed beet red. He noticed that the thief's mask had slid partially off his face, revealing the edge of his mouth, which was grinning. The thief's white top-hat had been knocked across the balcony. Shuichi twitched in anxiety.
"I-I'm sorry!" he stuttered.
"Oh I'm not complaining," the phantom thief said, "What a view~ and I see you finally took off your hat," the boy commented, "Now I can fully see that pretty face of yours."
Shuichi's face reddened. He desperately wanted to be able to move, to react- but he was paralyzed in shock. Suddenly however, the boy got a burst of confidence, and decided to attempt to unmask the thief.
"Y-Yeah?" Shuichi said, "Because... This is the perfect time for me to unmask you."
The thief's smile widened before shoving Shuichi off of him, and racing into the building. Shuichi stared at him in shock, knocked to the ground, unable to move. He didn't give chase, he just accepted defeat, yet again. Shuichi looked over at the phantom thief's hat, which had been knocked off his head when Shuichi pushed him to the ground. He slowly raised himself from the ground before picking up the hat. At this, his red face, which had calmed a little, heated up again.

--Word count: 866--