A/N~ I cannot even say how happy I was when I saw the response this fic got. Every comment, like, re-blog, and kudo means a lot to me, seriously- thank you. I love that so many of you wanted me to continue it as well so I made sure to start as soon as I could! Enjoy :)

~PurpleLlamanator

Also, I do have a tumblr if you want to send me asks or anything like that. I have the side blog for my fics which is PurpleLlamanator and the-iron-tator is my main.

Chapter 2: The Call

You would think after all of that, it would finally go smoothly. The guy confessed, the girl reciprocated- it should have been easy at that point. Just two friends wanting to be more- and he used the term friends loosely. Just two people that were interested in becoming more than acquaintances was more like it.

A few days after her interview, he realized another dilemma. Neither had a way to communicate to each other directly.

And he didn't know how to remedy that. It sent him into a panic.

He would've tried to reach her through her social media but turns out all her accounts were ran by her staff. If she had a personal profile, it was not shared and known to the public. He considered reaching out to her staff but figured that might appear too desperate and he didn't want to freak her out. As for his accounts, he took care of them but not a single one had received any form of contact with her.

Right about now, he was at a loss for what to do. He wasn't very experienced with this sort of thing but he knew he had to do something. So far they had been going tit for tat. Granted, that wasn't necessarily by choice but that was just how it seemed to be working out for them right now. The ball was in his court so to speak.

His team knew he was stressing out and he knew it was a bit ridiculous. But he really liked this girl. He didn't want to screw this up and lose his chance once and for all- especially after the nightmare turned miracle that brought him this far.

That's why his team decided to take it upon themselves to help him. And saying that any of them gave actual decent advice- advice that was even remotely useful, was a stretch.

"Why don't you just show up to her house?"

Shinichi rolled his eyes, not even willing to grace that suggestion with a response, it was so dumb. This was what he had been dealing with for days.

"Stupid! He can't just show up at her house. How would he even know when she's home? That and it would be fuckin' weird," Hattori said.

"Dude has a poster of her with her lip print. She already knows he's weird," Nakamichi pointed out and Shinichi groaned at the reminder, resting his forehead flat on the table.

Somebody please put him out of his misery.

Scrolling on his phone, Kuroba suddenly straightened with a grin. "Hey! Suzuki-san has a help line on her website. We could always call her." He was already snickering at the idea.

Head still pressed into the table, Shinichi merely turned and sent him a scathing glare. He couldn't tell if the suggestion had been a joke or not.

Taking notice that Shinichi was clearly not in the mood, Kaito cleared his throat nervously. "Uh . . . or maybe not," Kuroba went back to scrolling and Shinichi turned his glare back to the wooden table.

Call Suzuki. That was quite the suggestion- even if it had been a joke! He would be lying if he said he hadn't actually considered doing that. It took exactly three seconds of basic thought process to realize that wasn't a good idea. Her help would no doubt come with a price- a price he was not willing to pay. She would probably want some follow up interview which he had no intention of ever allowing. He learned his lesson the first time.

"Wait! Suzuki!" Hattori sat up excitedly.

This time his glare was aimed at someone else. One idiot was enough and this just proved his point that being around Kuroba slowly deteriorated your brain cells.

Kuroba glanced between the two. "You're going to call Suzuki-san?" He looked confused.

Hattori scrunched his brows. "What? No. You're idea was terrible. I'm talking about something Suzuki said."

While Kaito frowned and sagged in his chair disappointedly, Shinichi actually raised his head off the table. There was a red indent on his forehead proving how long he had been sitting there in turmoil. None of them dared to point it out.

Seeing he had his attention now, Hattori pulled up something on his phone shoving it in his face soon after. Shinichi's eyes squinted at first before they adjusted and then he was frowning again.

"You pulled up our game schedule," Shinichi said flatly. What did that have to do with anything?

Huffing, Hattori rolled his eyes. "I swear," he grumbled under his breath before he said louder, "Suzuki mentioned that that Nee-chan has gone to all of your games. You can leave a ticket for her at the gate." As he talked Shinichi's eyes got wider and wider.

"I can give her my box seats," he said slowly. How could he of not thought of that? That way when she went to the gate to either purchase a ticket or she tried to go in, they would either let her know her ticket was already paid for or that her seating arrangements had been upgraded. Best thing of all, those seats allowed a meet and greet with the team- and in her case he meant him. It came with a meet and greet with him.

Making the arrangements were easy. Everything was all set. All he had to do was show up, play the game, win the game- because there was no way he was going to lose knowing she was watching, and then do the meet and greet. On an average day the meet and greets weren't obligatory. He would likely be bombarded the moment he went up there considering he rarely did it but he determined that was fair price he would have to pay in order to see who he wanted. Admittedly, he also forgot meeting with her this way included the possibility of her meeting the rest of his idiot friends. And since they all were aware of his plans, he just knew they would be joining him. He determined that that too would be worth the embarrassment.

Even considering all of that, the coming game had him excited. There was more than just the usual adrenaline rush before running on field. Now there was something else. A something else that made his limbs all jittery; that made his heart speed up and his palms sweat. A something else that he was beginning to realize was almost more important to him- which he would not be admitting aloud any time soon. Something he was also feeling was nervousness. He had never been nervous to show up to a game before. He was honestly embarrassed with how much he cared about this. It shouldn't mean this much to him yet. But that didn't stop him from thinking about her instead of the game.

If his team noticed how distracted he was, they didn't say anything. They did however notice he was in a better mood than usual. That and for some reason he was playing better than he ever had before. It was an easy win but honestly he didn't remember anything. It was like he had been on autopilot. His mind was focused on one goal and it wasn't the one on the field- that's for sure. Subconsciously he understood that to reach that other one however he needed to actually reach the goal on the field.

Strolling off the field, he completely bypassed the press. He had already shook hands with the other team and he had no desire to have another mic shoved in his face. Kuroba could do that. He loved having an audience anyway.

When they got to the box seats, he couldn't help the way his eyes automatically scanned the room. The owner of the team walked up to him the moment he saw him, shaking his hand enthusiastically and congratulating him on another amazing win. Usually he enjoyed soaking up this praise but right now, he wanted something else. He wanted the attention of someone else. The more his eyes looked around though, the more it sunk in.

She's not here.

He shook hands and spoke with everybody that was there. His teammates were doing the same but occasionally Hattori would glance at him a bit warily. It wasn't necessary. Sure he was a bit disappointed but he wasn't angry. He wasn't even the slightest bit worried. There could've been any number of reasons for why she hadn't been there. So he made the same arrangements on their next game exactly a week later.

And she never showed up. Slowly but surely he felt that happy high her interview had left him on, deflating. Deflating until it was practically gone and all that was left in its place was frustration and honestly, a bit of hurt. All the confidence he had built up for this was for nothing. The moment she hadn't shown up, it came crashing back down.

A bit grudgingly, he made the arrangements for a third game. It was going on three weeks now and he was distracted by something else entirely. His worry for if she would even show. He already told himself that this would be the last time he did this. He liked her but after two and a half weeks and still no word, it had him questioning everything she said.

Did she mean it? Any of it? What if all she said to Suzuki was because she cracked under pressure? What if she said it because she felt bad for him?

What if she doesn't like me?

He was spiraling. His thoughts bringing him down more than the actual disappointment of her not being there. He still had a few more days till the next game but at this point, he had already given up and quite frankly, gotten angry. If she didn't like him, she could have said so. Rejection hurt, but stringing someone along like this, he was finding out, hurt more. It made him feel stupid and he was beginning to remember why he ditched dating in the first place.

A few days before their third game, he found himself leaving practice early. He was too agitated to be there and it was making him sloppy, and in turn, making him angrier. They all knew he was upset and they all knew it would be best to just leave him alone about it. It wasn't a joke to him anymore- if it ever had been.

"Man, forget her! If she don't want ya', then that's on her. Ya' put yourself out there. That's all ya' can do," Hattori had finally exclaimed and Kuroba was beside him nodding enthusiastically.

"You don't need a girlfriend anyway! The bachelor's life is the way to- Hi, Aoko-chan!" In a flash, he broke out of whatever odd flexing gesture he was trying to accomplish and straightened, turning to face the petite brunette that just rounded the corner. The girl continued walking by but not before giving him a small smile. The moment her back was to him, he was leaning out, still watching her go and didn't face them until she was out of sight.

Well, his tune changed fast, Shinichi rolled his eyes. It changed so fast it almost gave him whiplash.

"Now back to what I was saying."

Yep. Changed so fast he almost got whiplash.

"Girlfriends are nothing but a headache. Look at Hattori," he jabbed a finger at their teammate. "He's miserable! All he and his girlfriend do is bicker."

"I am not miserable," Hattori snapped. "And we don't bicker."

If he actually cared at the moment, even Shinichi would've given him a flat look.

"You're just saying this cause you're still fuckin' single, Kuroba. That and you and Kazuha don't get along."

Kuroba looked offended. "I'll have you know it is a choice to be single. How else would I lead my bachelor lifestyle?" Then he was crossing his arms, looking away. "And she called me childish."

Hattori looked like he wanted to laugh. "Bachelor lifestyle? You don't have a bachelor lifestyle! You're just waiting for that one girl to dump her boyfriend," he accused and quite loudly. "And you ordered a fuckin' chocolate shake at a bar. Who does that?"

Glancing around him, Kaito quickly shushed the Osakan man. "Would you shut up with that?!" he whispered furiously.

"With what? Your obsession over Nakamouri-san or how you have the drink preference of a five year old?" he asked with a mean smirk. His voice hadn't lowered at all and Kaito looked panicked.

"A chocolate shake is a perfectly reasonable drink for anybody," Kuroba jabbed his teammate in the chest with every word.

Shinichi was pretty sure everybody noticed when he didn't deny obsessing over Nakamouri. Normally he might've even joined in on the prodding but right now all it did was give him a headache and worsen his mood.

And that was about when he decided it was time for him to go.

The drive home was pretty much going how the past two weeks had. Not memorable and for the most part, done on autopilot. It was because he couldn't get out of his head. All he was thinking about constantly was how stupid he felt and how embarrassing this was going to be for him if it ever hit the press. He even briefly entertained the idea that maybe that had been the point for all of this.

Maybe, somehow, they had this planned from the start and both plotted against him. It was all one big joke to them and they were probably laughing it up that he actually reserved a ticket for her for three games- laughing at him for thinking she'd actually show up. He had no idea how they would've done it, but he was sure in his mind that they probably knew everything he had done. At this point he would believe it if someone told him they strapped a camera to him and watched him. And though his thoughts were getting more and more outrageous, they were making him more and more mad.

Kicking his front door shut behind him, he flung his shoes off not caring enough to don his house slippers and headed for the kitchen in just his socks. Dropping his gym bag on the floor messily, he flung his keys onto the island along with his phone, not bothering to put them in their designated places. There was only one thing he cared to do at the moment and he wouldn't spare a second on anything else.

Using a bottle opener, he too tossed that and the cap on the island before dragging his feet to the living room. When he noticed the annoying blinking light on his landline that was sitting on his inn table, he took a huge gulp of his beer and dropped on the couch. Before sprawling flat on his back, he practically slapped the answering machine button and waited through the automation's.

"You have 3 new messages. First message *beep*

'Shin-chan! Mou! You never answer your phone! Stop ignoring your mother. We need to talk about this Ran-chan and have a dinner! She's just the cutest thing-!'

The moment he heard her voice his arm was already reflexively moving behind him, tapping the machine with the bottom of his beer before it could even finish.

"Message erased. Next message *beep*

'Ah, Shinichi-kun. It's Keiichiro-san.' The older man's voice sounded tired and annoyed and Shinichi felt the same. Why was his manager calling him? If it was to complain that he bypassed the press at the past two games, he had no problem letting him know he planned on doing it again on Saturday as well.

'Look- I know you don't want to be bothered and all,'

Shinichi was nodding as he sipped out of his beer.

'-but there's this girl and she won't stop blowing up my office phone- saying something of you owing her a date or something crazy!'

Beer sprayed out of Shinichi's mouth and he instantly went into a hacking fit trying to clear his airway. Cursing, he scrambled into a sitting position setting the bottle on the coffee table. His shirt was soaked and he was wiping his face of any beer that was dribbling around his mouth. As the message continued, he determined it was better just to take the shirt off and he tried to do so quickly so he could fully pay attention to the call.

'Don't get mad- I didn't give her your number or any other insane thing she was asking for. She wouldn't stop calling until I at least took down her number so here it is. It's 080-'

Shinichi's eyes widened before dashing to the kitchen- never mind that his shirt was dangling around his neck with one arm in a sleeve. He couldn't even feel the wet spot from the beer at this point. Sliding across the floor in his socks and running into his gym back, he grappled with his cell phone on the island before he spun around with a crazed look. As he went to run back into his sitting room however, his foot at some point must've gotten tangled in the strap of his gym bag. He stumbled, almost eating the floor before he began jumping on one foot, desperately trying to untangle the bag from his sock.

The message was still going though and when his manger was already on the last four digits of her number, he just gave up.

"Fuck it," he said and just stood there dialing the number before he could forget it.

'Like I said, girl was crazy. Call it if you dare!' And a resounding click signaled that he had hung up.

Shinichi rolled his eyes and before hitting call, now that he wasn't running all over the place, he reached down and much to his annoyance easily slid his foot out of the strap.

"Last message," his machine droned on and with a beep it began to play.

His phone was already ringing in his ear so he hurriedly walked over to stop the message from playing. Pressing the button wasn't doing anything though and it wouldn't stop. Some stupid automated voice kept asking him if he was interested in lowering his insurance rates and he thought he'd blow a blood vessel.

"No, damn it!" he was getting agitated and balancing his phone in between his cheek and shoulder, he grabbed the answering machine with both hands trying to figure out how to turn it off.

"Hello?" A soft voice said over the line in his ear and still struggling with the answer machine that was still freaking talking, he didn't register it.

"We can lower your rates up to 30%! Start saving today!"

"Shit! Shut up," he grumbled.

"Excuse me?"

He heard that and instantly his face paled.

The phone!

Mouth falling open in horror, he dropped the answering machine he had been struggling with and it clattered to the floor noisily. He hadn't heard her pick up and it was definitely her. Quickly he just ripped the cord out of the wall finally silencing the stupid thing.

"Nonononono!" he said in a panic, worried that she'd hang up. "I wasn't talking to you! I was talking to-" and his eyes glanced at the stupid machine before he winced realizing how dumb it would sound. "uh. . . my dog," he finished while slapping his hand to his face at the stupid excuse. He was just trying desperately to correct the situation.

There was a pause on the line and he could practically hear her confusion. "Who is this?" She finally said and her voice was tired and confused and it was at that point he realized just what time it was.

12:47 AM

It was past midnight.

"Oh my god," he said almost under his breath and put his hand to his head tiredly. This was turning out to be another disaster. "I'm so sorry. I-I didn't realize it was so late. I just got home and got the message from my manager-"

Suddenly sounding more awake, she cut off his rambling. "Shinichi-kun?"

He never said who he was. Genius, Kudou, genius.

Moving on to resting his forehead against the wall- about to start banging it from his stupidity, his face turned red. "Yes," he winced and gave another apology. At this point he wanted to hang up and try calling in the morning to start over but he knew that wasn't an option.

He heard what sounded like a sigh of relief over the phone. "It's okay," she giggled. "You just scared me at first. I didn't realize it was you."

His frown softened at her laughter and he too was relieved- relieved she hadn't hung up on him. Letting his head fall back thanking what ever God helped him pull this off, he felt himself finally start to relax. Swallowing, he rested his forearm against the wall and leaned his head on it.

"I'm sorry," he says for what must be the hundredth time that night. "I was just surprised by my manager's call. I wasn't thinking clearly," he accidentally admitted and his face got the slightest bit pinker.

"I-I'm sorry. That was a bit forward, wasn't it?" she asked almost rhetorically and he reckoned she was embarrassed by the way she stumbled over her words. She must've thought what she did sounded creepy, but to him, that was the last thing he was thinking. It was more along the lines of that he was thankful she didn't notice him admitting how desperate he got over her.

"No, I'm glad you called," he said gently.

It got silent on her end and he wished they were face to face so he could better deduce how she felt.

Her voice, a bit timid said, "I actually wasn't sure if you'd call."

"Oh," was all he could think to say. Maybe he wasn't the only one questioning the other's motives. Already he was feeling stupid over his ridiculous thoughts from the car ride home- that and guilty.

Then she laughed. "Truthfully, I didn't think your manager would pass along my message."

That made him frown the slightest bit and Shinichi made a mental note to talk to Keiichiro. "Well, I'm glad he did," he said seriously.

"I am too," Ran admitted softly and again he wished so badly he could see her expression.

The line went silent again and stupidly enough, he could've been content to stand there knowing she was on the other end. Her clearing her throat softly reminded him that she couldn't see his face either and therefore had no idea how he took her last comment from his silence. She was getting nervous.

Before he could say anything she broke the quiet. "Maybe we could talk more over a dinner-?"

"Yes!" he said quickly and a bit too loud. He barely gave her enough time to finish her sentence. Getting flustered, he cleared his throat before trying again. "Yeah, I'd like that," he swallowed hard. He nodded even though she would have no way of seeing it.

"I'm sorry though. My schedule is a bit hectic right now so I'm not exactly sure yet when I'll have some free time. Maybe I could text you so we can match a date?" she suggested and again he could hear the unsureness in her voice.

What? Did she think he would say no? He could tell from her tone that she wasn't ruling that out.

"You can text or call me on this number," he agreed making sure to throw out there she could call him any time. He liked speaking with her.

"Okay, I'll talk to you later then?"

After once again confirming that they would indeed be talking later, she hung up the phone and he watched his phone screen go black. Biting his lip, he was trying not to get too excited but finally it became too much and a grin split across his face.

Smiling so hard it almost hurt, he went back into his phone and looked at his recent calls. Tapping on the number he pressed 'add contact' and typed out her name.

Mouri Ran

And staring at the phone number for a second longer he hit 'save contact'.

Mind still reeling at how well his night turned around, he kept checking his phone and looking at the name, making sure it was still there- that it was real. And every time it was.

He could feel his face heating up again but this time it wasn't because he was embarrassed. Feeling giddy, happy, excited- he gripped his hands into fists, one of those which was holding his phone, and laughed not at all caring that he was still half dressed and covered in beer still.

"Yes!" he cheered.

A/N~ I have officially decided this will be a mini fic. I don't plan on going over 10 chapters in fact it will probably only be like 7 or 8? I haven't completely decided since I suck at gauging how much I'm going to write on a certain topic. I will keep you guys informed as I update though so that I don't surprise you with a last chapter or anything like that.

Lastly, I want to thank everybody again for all the support. The fandom has been so nice and encouraging when I was nervous to post and I really appreciate that. Again, thank you so much! 3

~PurpleLlamanator