Day 2

74. Are you Challenging Me?

899 words

Rating: K

"I'm such a great detective," She puffed up her cheeks, hands on her hips, face red as she mimicked, "I can solve a murder in two seconds, but I know nothing about my best friend since childhood, because apparently I expected her not to remember what I looked like as a third grader, and disguised myself with glasses." She broke off to growl at him, "Glasses, Shinichi. Glasses."

He folded his arms, mischief glinting in his eyes. "Are you challenging me?"

Ran flushed and glowered. "So what if I am?"

Since his return to adulthood, they'd fallen back to old habits, dancing around each other in an endless battle of wits and words. If anything, the bickering grew worse. Both were good at hiding their true motivations behind smiles and scowls and biting remarks before, and were even better at it now for the year and a half Shinichi spent as didn't talk about London, or the things Ran said when she didn't know who he was.

He wasn't quite himself, nor was she. Both needed space. Both needed time. Both upheld an unspoken agreement, that no matter how slow they take to grow back together, they'll never hurt the other again.

Shinichi grinned, leaning forward on his elbows. "Fire away then."

Ran bit her lip. "When's my birthday?"

He rolled his eyes, sighing. "Really?"

She bristled. "Fine. What's my favorite color?"

"Red."

"Favorite flower?"

"Magnolias."

"Favorite food?"

"That disgusting onigiri from the shop at the corner of your street. I think there must be something wrong with your tastebuds. That abomination is 90% grease."

Ran faltered. "It's tasty, ok?"

He made a face, thinking back to all the times he'd been forced to eat it as Conan when Ran had been gone, and Detective Mouri couldn't be bothered.

"These are all things that require very little deduction," Ran interrupted his thoughts. She had put her hands on her hips again. "I'm not letting you off the hook this easily."

He shrugged, lopsided grin still spread across his face. "You're the one asking questions."

"When did I get up this morning?"

"9:00. Like you usually do on weekends."

"Do I like cats or dogs better?"

"You say cats, but you love both anyway."

"What's my favorite hobby?"

"Well, you do enjoy beating people up with your karate...but, origami. It soothes you." He remembered the amount of cranes Ran had folded the first few weeks of his disappearance, and the bouquet of paper flowers she'd brought to the hospital after he had finally defeated the black organization. He'd tried to imagine it then, her shaking fingers smoothing over the creases in the paper, over the tear stains and smudged ink, again and again and again, until edges that were once rough blossomed into flowers.

There was almost triumph in her voice the next time she opened her mouth. "Who is my best friend?"

"Sonoko." He replied without hesitation. She gaped at him like a fish. "Don't look so surprised." He leaned back, cushioning his head with his arms. "Your trick question wasn't too tricky. The very fact that you asked it meant that I'm not it."

Ran sputtered and did not speak for a long while. Then with one of the fiercer looks she's worn, she leveled an accusing finger at him. " Final question." Her voice shook just a little, hoarse and barely above a whisper. "Who do I like?"

"Hmm." Shinichi tapped his chin. "Is it Eisuke-kun? He wanted to whisk you away to America, you know."

Ran sank onto the couch, groaning.

He turned a stern eye to her. "You can't still be in love with Araide-san. He's older than you. Your father disapproves and I disapprove even more."

Flushing red, she was now making high pitched whale noises of protest as she ground her head into the throw pillow with startling ferocity. It made him pity her, vaguely. But Shinichi Kudou could be a cruel, cruel man.

He pretended to think some more. "It can't be Hattori. That's gross. It's like, incest."

"No!" She was out of breath and her hair was a mess around her face. Her indignance lined every word. "No! You're wrong. You're a terrible detective-"

"Or," he cut her off, closing the distance between them in a few great, long strides, effectively trapping her against the sofa seat she had been misusing a moment ago. Letting the devious smirk he'd been keeping hidden emerge, he leaned into her. "Is it me?"

For a long time neither spoke. Both were thinking. Both were gauging. Both looked at the other like if they'd stopped for even just a second the other would vanish from the planes of reality itself.

And then Ran looked away, averted her gaze as she tilted her head and leaned up to press a kiss against the corner of his mouth. "Ok, so you're not that bad of a detective."

He couldn't help the smirk that was tugging at his lips. "Damn right, I'm not."

So they sat closer after that, his fingers entwined in hers, knees bumping, feet tangled. They were entitled. And if they stayed like that, her head tucked under his, his arm around her shoulder, and as the afternoon progressed they two slipped into blissful slumber, warm, and safe, and together, no one breathed a word.

Well. At least until Kogoro Mouri got home.