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KID was undoubtedly the most skilled phantom thief around.
No, Nakamori wasn’t speaking out of bias, even if KID was definitely his preferred phantom thief. That’s why he was the Inspector of the guys task force, after all. And as the inspector of said task force, he naturally had front row seat tickets to the thieves ‘shows’, as his fans and KID himself liked to call them. (And, to be fair, the task force had certainly begun to do so too.)
He got to watch KID up close, or as close as anyone (not counting underage detectives of various ages) would probably ever get. He got to watch KID pull of trick after trick, miracle after the impossible. Some of the stuff KID did shouldn’t be physically possible, in the humble opinion of the laws of physics, and yet he did them anyway. And that wasn’t even the only thing— KID was incredibly strong physically and mentally, able to disguise himself as anyone and anything, could dodge literal bullets and so much more. If anyone could attest to his skills, it would be Nakamori.
Therefore it would be absolutely irrational to be worried about him failing to do what he’s best at.
But emotions weren’t rational, especially when they involved those one… cared about. (If you had told him years ago, or even months ago, that he would be openly admitting to KID being on that list, he would have personally called the psych ward. But here he was. Damn KID and his tendency to make him do things he would never normally do.) And after that heist, when everything had been put in perspective and been changed even though nothing had really changed, that was especially true.
Because it was one thing to know some guy was making (terrible) life decisions that involved the theft of priceless gems and putting himself in harms way seemingly for fun.
It was another thing to know that a literal kid was doing all that.
Thing was, the task force was old. Most of them had been around for the first KID, had, like him, spent most of their careers chasing this one specific thief. Some level of fondness was to be expected. But they were also all middle aged men and women, most of which had families of their own. Had children of their own.
So it was really no surprise that some background level of fondness had turned into downright adoration and worry really quick.
(He was tempted to blame KID for it. The boy was just too damn endearing, with his silly (impressive) magic tricks and strong sense of justice. But honestly, it wasn’t like KID had ever told them he wasn’t as old as they’d presumed— the only reason they knew was a panicked comment slipping out when he’d gotten flustered. KID had gone out of his way to hide it, in fact. And it wasn’t like he’d chosen his task force full to be of parents either, so really; it was their own fault.
But, as the Task Force always said: When in doubt (or denial), blame Kaitou KID.)
KID was (somehow) plenty qualified for what he was doing. Hell, if anyone could confirm that, it was the KID task force! But worry was still not rational, especially not worry for a child.
So when KID finally appeared at the beginning of the heist, balancing on a hair thin steal wire while quite a bit up from the ground—
“Oi, KID! Don’t you dare be careless and slip, do you hear me?!”
—he’d just shouted on instinct. It wasn’t that weird— ever since that heist with the daring lady (who had since been charged with harassment) the Task Force had adopted a habit of asking KID about his day, subtly inquiring about his home life and sometimes even (making attempts at) scolding him for his less than stellar life choices, which most of the times meant injuries or extremely reckless stunts.
“I would never, Dad.” KID responded, tone as careless as always.
All activity in the room immediately ceased to be at KID’s social nuclear bomb of a word choice.
A moment of stunned silence.
“I-I mean, have you ever seen me trip? Or fall? Unintentionally, at least?” KID continued, voice notably quicker and squeakier than usual. “I’m great at balancing, superb even. You’re looking at the pinnacle of balancing skill here.”
Well, Nakamori concluded in his mind absolutely stunned, KID is blabbering. That’s certainly new.
“So.” KID was still talking. “So of course I wouldn’t fall, Inspector Nakamori. Keibu.”
The silence, as everyone waited in bathed breath for his response, was suffocating.
Okay, okay, focus. This was a monumental, downright tremendous sign for KID’s trust in the task force, of KID’s trust in him. He could absolutely not screw this up.
“It’s fine, kid.” He eventually settled on, waving the boy off. “I don’t mind if you want to, uh, call me that.”
“Oh.” KID said, so very quiet. And clearly he hadn’t even meant to say it, which was even more unusual than the whole situation in itself. KID cleared his throat a fraction of a second after. Fast reaction time, as always. “Well, I must extend my appreciations for the offer, but such a thing is hardly professional.”
“Yeah, because you’re just the pinnacle of professional.” Officer Kurihira thankfully cut in, because Nakamori’s reaction wouls just have been an akward and disappointed ‘right’. “For the record, I wouldn’t mind if you called me that either.” A thoughtful pause. “Well, Mom in my case, but still.”
“I—“
“I don’t mind either!” Officer Nekori chimed in, sounding downright cheerful at the possibility.
“It would be my honour.” Officer Hideki added.
“Er— Still, it’s not exactly appropriate—“
“Are magic tricks appropriate during theft?” Officer Nirou deadpanned, one eyebrow raised. “It’s not like you’re a very conventional thief anyway.”
“…Well. I much appreciate the enthusiasm.” KID eventually responded. “But it certainly shouldn’t become a habit. Not everyone is aware of my… circumstances, after all.”
Right. No one except the task force knew KID was…well, a kid. There’s definitely be a bunch of trouble if he slipped up in front of a crowd, for both him and the task force. (Probably primarily Nakamori specifically, actually, because then he’d have the honour of explaining to the higher ups why KID was perfectly comfortable calling the task force hunting him family.)
(Oh, shit, what if he slipped up in front of the shooters?)
“Well, it doesn’t have to be exactly that.” Nakamori offered. “But if you want to refer to us more familiarly, none of us would mind.”
“And are you quite sure about that, Ginzo-san?” KID said, voice teasing, up until he called him by his given name and pulled a face. Nakamori agreed, it was definitely weird. But he wouldn’t mind getting used to it.
(God, he was actually hoping a thief, KID of all thieves, would refer to him by his first name or even ‘dad’. What had become of him??)
“I’d really rather not refer to you like this.” KID states eventually, sounding vaguely uncomfortable. Which, if even a bit of it was bleeding through his poker face, probably meant he was actually immensely uncomfortable. Then a grin. “I prefer Keibu, don’t you think?”
Ah, that nickname.
Thinking about it, only this KID had ever called him that. The first had stuck to Inspector or Nakamori-san.
“Perfectly fine for me, Kaitou.” Like hell was he gonna be beat in terms of profession inspired nicknames!
KID twitched in a weird way, then laughed loudly. A second later, something glittering appeared in his hand. The gem that was supposed to be on display far below KID. A quick glance revealed the case to be empty. The conversation was over.
Nakamori growled, pointing at KID and shouting—
“MEN, TASER THAT KAITOU!!”
Their (far less strong than before) tasers, of course, hit nothing but air.