Title: The Same Old You

Chapter 1: Behind a Photograph

Author: Jaroslav Lewis

Fandom: Detective Conan

Pairing: ShinRan with slight KazuHei

Summary: Time has passed for them to believe that they have changed only for them to realize that some things haven't. Some things just don't.

Chapter Summary: She liked photographs. He never did but her habit grew on him. Now, they keep the same photograph to remind themselves of how pictures never change the same way memories don't even if people do.

Disclaimer: Contains some side/satellite characters which are my OCs. I don't own Detective Conan and any of Gosho Aoyama's characters. I simply borrow them when I'm bored.

New York, Friday, 8:00 am

He sits back, staring at the pile of case reports on top of his desk, with a mug in his hand. The bitterness of his black, morning coffee wakes him as he takes a sip. The warmth floods his whole system as he drinks. The caffeine starts to kick in and then suddenly, he feels energized and ready to start the day's work.

He takes a small bite out of his cream cheese bagel and then sets it aside together with his coffee mug. With a sigh, he takes one folder, ready to go through with the filing of case reports which he absolutely despises. Then he feels a punch on his shoulder. It doesn't hurt him but it is strong enough to make him flinch and shift his attention to whoever did it to him.

"What the fuck?!" He reacts in full straight English as he stares at the assailant who turns out to be a petite woman with brown hair, tied in a neat pony tail. She is tan, brown-eyed and wore an NYPD uniform. "What the hell's wrong with you, Jess?"

Jess then looks at him furiously with her hands on her waist.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you?!" She answers back, this time taking a folder from his desk to hit him with. He raises his arms in surrender, still confused by her sudden attacks. "I can't believe you're ghosting Yejin! What's the matter with you, man?"

Then it hits him. He purses his lips together, thinking as he stares into space. Jess puts the folder back in its rightful place before casually propping her short frame up on his desk so she can sit there. He proceeds to take a file from his desk to promptly scan through it.

"I don't know…" He shrugs. "I guess she's just not it."

Jess furrows her eyebrows in both confusion and frustration.

"You only had one date with her. How could you tell?" She asks looking at him judgingly. "God, Shinichi! You're unbelievable!"

"I don't know, okay? We just didn't click. The chemistry isn't right. I'm sorry." Shinichi apologizes swiftly, brushing off the topic as he starts typing the report on his computer. Jess continues to stare at him, quizzically as if analyzing him.

"Chemistry shemistry. What do you know? You're a detective. Not a scientist! Is she not beautiful enough for you? Was she not a bombshell like I described?" She interrogates like the police officer that she is.

"She's pretty, alright…" Shinichi replies in an apathetic manner as he continues to type on his computer. The case reports suddenly seem interesting to him now.

"Then what's the matter?" Jess presses on. Shinichi then stops typing and leans back to his chair's back rest. He briefly looks at framed picture on his desk. It is a photo of himself with her at the Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto, from ten years ago.

"Nothing." He answers. "She's great. She seems nice too. But…"

'She's just not her…'

Shinichi shakes his head, avoiding certain thoughts as he leans over his computer to type again and to start working. Jess hops off of his desk but she doesn't leave his cubicle.

"But what?" She asks curiously as she studies his uneasy manner.

"Nothing…" He repeats, avoiding Jess's gaze, hoping that she would just leave him alone but she stays. "I feel nothing…"

Jess shakes her head.

"It's a shame. Yejin was so into you. Can't see why though. You're so cold." Jess comments, teasingly. "You're hopeless. You've practically rejected and broke the hearts of all women here in New York."

"I think that's too much of an exaggeration, don't you think?" He chuckles, half-heartedly.

Suddenly a man in an adjacent cubicle peeks at them. He is in his forties with ashy-gray hair and light skin, his eyes were blue with gray undertones. He has strong features, and looks somewhat intimidating but his smile is kind.

"That's because the one he truly wants isn't in New York…" The man says, joining the conversation. He then disappears for a while as he leaves his cubicle, only to show up, approaching Shinichi's with a bag of jelly donuts which he offers to Jess who takes a piece and to Shinichi who politely declines since he suddenly feels as though he has already lost his appetite after being suddenly put on the hot seat. His bagel and coffee sit on top of his desk to grow cold while he works to get his colleagues off of his hair.

"She's someone you left in Japan. I'm thinking, that girl in the picture." He points to the picture on Shinichi's desk, deducing like a pro as if they are in an actual crime scene. Shinichi laughs with not much energy. He feels like a cornered culprit. His heart aches with nostalgia as he looks at the picture again. He stays silent, not knowing what to say. The man on the other hand has a satisfied smirk on his face. Jess gapes in awe at the deduction and at Shinichi's reaction.

"Wow, Inspector Collins, come to think of it, Shinichi has had that picture since he got here and he has never said anything about it." Jess comments. Shinichi shakes his head disapprovingly, hoping that they'd stop pestering him. He tries to remain focused on his work since he has tons to do, but the image, the memory of her keeps messing with his brain, making him lose focus. Even after ten years, she still has that effect on him.

"So who's she, Shinichi?" Inspector Collins asks. His tone is calm and more concerned and caring. "You're awfully secretive, you know."

"Nothing." Shinichi lies with bad attempt, dismissing their show of interest in his personal life. Even after a long time has passed, he still couldn't get himself to talk about her without getting hurt.

"Nothing huh? But clearly, she's important enough to have her picture sitting on your desk for years…" Jess says, shaking her head in disbelief at how bad a liar Shinichi is.

Shinichi on the other hand, says nothing. He smiles sadly as he looks at their picture together and it takes him back to when they were both so young. It had already been ten years since then, but he remembers it just as if it were yesterday. When he thinks about her, he could still remember how her frame felt against his, how she stumbled and he caught her, saving her from a bad fall. She was tall for an Asian girl but when she stood next to him, she looked like a small fragile being that he wants to protect. He remembers the way her lips felt against his cheek the first time she kissed him when they were in high school. And then everything comes rushing back, he remembers every memory they had, the good and even the bad…

"She was the one who liked taking pictures. I never did but her habit grew on me." He says fondly. He takes the frame in his hand and looks at her. He touches her image through the glass, ever so delicately. "She says she liked pictures so much because they never change, the same way memories don't even when the people in them do…"

Shinichi sighs as he places the picture back carefully in its old and permanent spot on his desk. Jess and Inspector Collins stay silent, marveled at how he has suddenly opened up to them.

"She's sentimental like that." He chuckles, remembering her adorable quirks. "Her name is Mouri Ran. She's my childhood friend and my first love…"

Tokyo, Friday, 10:00 pm

From the different side of the world, she stares at the same picture as she stands in the dim room of her new apartment. She drops her shoulder bag on her desk and she takes off her trench coat hanging it by the chair near her desk. She takes the picture in her hands before dropping exhaustedly on her neatly done single bed, while still in her day clothes.

She sighs as she looks at him, studying his half-startled, half-annoyed candid expression. She looks at how he casually wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Goosebumps creep to her skin as she remembers the feeling of him holding her protectively. She remembers his warmth, his touch and she suddenly feels a need, a deep longing for him.

She can't help but think about him still. She can't deny that she still thinks about him every day and even more after today. She wonders how could ten years pass by already, how could she have aged and changed and deep down she knows that he has already too but despite all that and although she hates to admit it to herself, she is aware that her feelings for him haven't.

It is pathetic for she has tried and tried so many times and she continues to do so but despite all her on-going attempts she still continues to fail, so many times, one "relationship" (if it ever lasted long enough to call it that), one date after the other.

Just a few moments ago she took a chance on another date but it didn't go well, at least on her part. And in a few moments, Sonoko will find out why. She groans at the thought. Sonoko is gonna freak yet again.

Then as if on cue, her smart phone rings and she reaches her pocket to answer it. She finds Sonoko's name on the screen and she groans again because she knows she has to take the call, tell her everything then she'd have to endure her long hours of scolding, lecturing her about her boring, non-existent love life.

Without much of a choice, she accepts the call and brings the phone to her ear. She never got to answer with a hello because Sonoko already starts talking.

"Ran! How was it? Did you have fun? Wasn't he great? Ah tell me everything!" She squeals ever so excitedly. Ran winces. Sonoko's gonna be so disappointed. At loss for words, she stays silent.

"Come on, Ran! Tell me! When's the second date gonna be?" Sonoko pesters impatiently after hearing no response from her friend.

"Please don't get mad…" Ran begins, begging but before she could even continue, Sonoko had already let out a gasp of disbelief.

"For the love of god, Ran! Please don't tell me you're rejecting this one again." Sonoko sighs exasperatedly.

"I'm sorry." Ran apologizes, resting her head on her pillow." It's just not gonna happen."

"But why? Is my taste in men not good enough for you? I've already set you up with a lot of great guys! I'm running out of them!" Her friend complains.

"Well, he's cute, very handsome as a matter of fact but he…" Ran struggles to find a more appropriate, less-brutal comment. "He lacks substance…:"

Ran could imagine Sonoko face-palming at this point. She couldn't help but wince to herself.

"What? Are you saying that he's dumb?" Sonoko asks

Ran stammers and mumbles some incoherent words, feeling very embarrassed at her irrational pickiness.

'And this is why you're gonna die alone.' Ran silently tells herself.

"I didn't say that but for lack of better words, yes. Yes, he kind of is." Ran replies and Sonoko groans in frustration over the line. "He refused going to the abstract art gallery nearby the restaurant because he said it would be boring to look at and that abstract art is so easy that a toddler could make them."

"So, what? He's not perfect. You're just saying that because you have a thing for smart boys!" Sonoko retorts. Ran is about to disagree when she went on rambling. "Not to mention, your great love is such a huge nerd."

Ran's face starts to heat up in embarrassment. Sonoko continues to ramble but she fails to hear her by the sound of her pulse, ringing in her ears as her thoughts drift to the other side of the world, as her thoughts drift back to the past.

Her heart skips a beat remembering his weird quirks, the way he's so passionate about things he wants to pursue, the way his eyes would light up every time he talked about Holmes or about some case he solved. Though Ran is not much of a mystery geek as he is, she'd find herself mesmerized just looking at him just being so driven and passionate. Then she smiles sadly as she thinks to herself how it is one of the reasons why she loved him so but also the main reason why she had to let him go.

"Ran, are you listening to me?" Sonoko says, making Ran snap out from her reverie.

"What?" Ran asks all of a sudden, realizing that she hasn't been paying attention to her concerned friend. Sonoko sighs for the nth time.

"I was saying maybe you're trying to look for something wrong in other guys because you can't find his traits in them…" Her friend explains and it suddenly hits her. "Come on, Ran. There's only one reason. You still haven't gotten over Shinichi even after ten years…"

"That is so not true. Ten years is a pretty long time and I've had some serious relationships after him." Ran says, but her voice sounds more like a defensive squeak rather than a well-constructed argument with conviction, as though she is trying to convince herself rather than reject Sonoko's spot-on conclusion. And it is funny because she's a respected lawyer just like her mother. But alas with such conversation, she would easily lose her composure.

"Please, Ran. Your only serious relationship after Shinichi was with Ryuji-san from college and even then you were still so guarded with him compared to when Shinichi was your boyfriend." Sonoko counters.

"Well, Ryuji turned out to be a cheater so…" Ran reasons, hoping to finally shut Sonoko up and it does for a moment until…

"True. Which takes us back to what we've been talking about earlier.-Shinichi. Call him. I thought you guys broke things off on good terms? Why are you guys cutting each other off of your lives?"

"We're not cutting each other off. We just got preoccupied with things and lost contact with each other. Remember how tough law school was for me? And Shinichi, you know him with all the cases he has to solve besides he already works for the NYPD. He's too busy now. Well, we both are. We have different priorities now."

Ran's heart aches at the thought. Sonoko did have a good point. She and Shinichi used to be so tight, like two peas in a pod. Now, it's just different. She somewhat blames herself. Maybe her mother was right after all.

Falling in love with a detective would do you no good.

And she hit the double whammy since he is also her childhood friend. Now, everything's just in the ruins.

Sonoko is about to say yet another word when a beeping sound on the line interrupted, thereby saving Ran from a longer discussion of her dreaded relationship failures.

"Call waiting. I have to take this. It could be a client." Ran explains to Sonoko and she sighs in defeat.

"Alright. But this isn't over okay? Think about it, okay?"

Ran doesn't promise Sonoko anything and takes the other line. This time she finds Kazuha's name on the screen. Her curiosity grows, she wonders what her Osakan friend could probably be up to at the hour. She hopes that it wouldn't be anything like Sonoko's call earlier.

"Kazuha-chan?" Ran asks in wonder and she hears a delightful squeal from the other end.

"Ran-chan! You would not believe what just happened!" She begins, giggling giddily and excitedly. "Heiji asked me to marry him and I said yes!"

Ran gasps and for a moment she is speechless and feeling all sorts of happy for her friend. She grabs another pillow hugs it as she rolls over her bed with a smile, trying to restrain herself from jumping up and down on it out of excitement. And then she wishes she could fly all the way to Osaka in a second to give Kazuha a big hug.

"I'm so happy for you! Congratulations, Kazuha-chan!" She says and Kazuha lets out another giddy laugh. Ran swears she could hear her blushing. If that is even possible.

"Oh my god. This is such big news! Tell me everything!" Ran demands excitedly.

"Sure! Every detail, but first thing's first…I want to ask you a very important question." Kazuha says. "How would you like to be my maid of honor?"

The question earns a cheerful squeal from Ran.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world!"

New York, Friday, 9:00 am

Shinichi is taking a short break from his work, browsing through the newsfeed of his social media account. He looks bored until something peaks his curiosity. It is a new post from Kazuha. Since she is one of his friends he becomes so interested as he hovers his finger through the touch screen ready to press the reaction button but he reads the caption first.

I can't believe I'm marrying this ahou.

Tagged on the post is his best friend who is none other than Hattori Heiji, his fellow detective who stuck with him through thick and thin back when he encountered trouble with a huge, dangerous syndicate.

His cerulean eyes then focus below Kazuha's post and he sees two pictures. One is of Kazuha's hand with her ring finger bearing an elegant diamond ring and the other is of Kazuha and Heiji together, all smiles and right below the post were comments, one of which immediately caught his attention because of the name of the person who wrote it.

Mouri Ran: Congratulations again! Love you guys so much. Honored to be the maid of honor. Pun intended. LOL

He takes notice of how she flooded the comment with heart emojis. He finds it adorable. He unconsciously smiles and soon his mind is filled with questions. He couldn't believe it. Hattori is finally getting married and not only that, he totally beat him to it when all along, back in the day he really thought…

Suddenly his phone rings and Hattori's name and picture appears on the screen, requesting to video chat with him. Shinichi snaps out from his thoughts and smirks. Typical, Hattori. So he answers, positioning the phone at an angle in which his face could clearly be seen and then he sees Hattori's face through the screen, smiling from ear to ear.

"Not gonna lie. I was actually expecting this call, right now…" Shinichi greets him. "Congratulations, Hattori."

From the other end, Hattori scratches the back of his head sheepishly and laughs.

"Thanks, Kudo. Now that you know, I guess I'll cut to the chase." Hattori says. "Remember when you told me you owe me big time after the syndicate case? Well how about paying your end of the bargain by being my best man on my wedding day?"

"Of course. You didn't have to threaten me with my life-long debt." Shinichi chuckles. Heiji smiles triumphantly.

"Great. So, we'll see you soon?" Heiji reiterates and Shinichi nods.

"Yeah. Keep me posted when you guys think of a date so I could immediately file a leave and book a flight." He reminds strictly.

"Sure thing. Thanks again, man!"

"No problem."

Tokyo, Friday, 11:00 pm

Ran now lies in bed in her pajamas browsing through her phone smiling giddily as she looks through Heiji and Kazuha's photos together. Suddenly she feels a slight pang in her chest. It finally sinks in. Everyone's moving forward but her. Her smile fades and she feels the presence of loneliness. She shakes her head. She is not about to let such thoughts ruin such moment to celebrate her friends' milestone because she genuinely is happy for them. Although at the back of her mind she wonders, would she ever have that kind of relationship in her life? Then she realizes she isn't getting any younger.

Then a ping from her phone distracts her from wondering. She sees a notification on her social media and it opens to reveal that someone "liked" her comment and has commented right next to hers on Hattori-kun and Kazuha-chan's proposal announcement. Her eyes stays glued to the screen as soon as she sees the name and reads his text

Kudo Shinichi: Guess, I'm planning that bachelor party after all. See you soon! Best wishes from the best man.

He ends the text with a winking emoji and Ran chuckles to herself and shakes her head. It is just so typical of him.

'That subtle hint, but dramatic announcement. He still has that charm.' She thinks to herself, contemplating whether or not she should hit him up or wait for him to do so. Her lips curve into a mischievous grin as she presses the like button on his comment.

She decides to be subtle with him too.

AN: Sorry it took a while. Got a little preoccupied at work. Anyway, here's chapter one of the story. Made sudden changes as I was writing it. Originally, I planned to reveal the reason of the break up in this chapter I realized it would ruin the story flow and natural progression because I've decided to do two timelines, two perspectives in one chapter. I felt that an information overload is at risk if I'd stick through the original plan. So, I decided to reveal the past on chapter 2 instead. So stay tuned!

Feel free to tell me what you guys think as well. This would be my first time writing a chaptered fic for the DC Fandom so I'm really hoping it will turn out well. I usually just stick to one shots because I'm afraid I won't be able to commit because I've failed so many times. Hahaha

Anyway, I will be posting this fic on , AO3 (Yes! I finally have one now!) and on tumblr. So if you guys want to follow me or this story, you can pick any options for your convenience.

Will try to update tomorrow, if not maybe a few days later.

It's 6:56 AM here and I haven't slept. So, forgive me if there are typos and grammatical errors, not sure if I proof-read it enough since I'm sleepy. Will go through it again as soon as I get my rest. For now, hope you guys enjoy.

BTW, I've done a playlist for this fanfic. Just so, I'd be able to set the mood while I'm writing it. Tell me if you guys want to know what I listen to while writing this and if you'd like to listen to the playlist while reading it.

~J