Disclaimer - I own no characters.

ghdsjkalhfslkahfsaklhkla - Yeah... I really can't justify my hate for the DB... I guess it's 'cause they're so annoying.
Nakoudo - I would, but I'm trying to make the DB as stupid as possible. Plus, they're 'teaming up' against Conan and Ai, so they ask each other retarded questions and give bland dares.
mysteriousangelgirl - It's really cool how you read my SxS stories... thanks!
Katana-Jake - Thanks! (Here's your update!)
Me - ::grins:: Thanks for the reviews and support (esp. for Contra Sententias!)

A/N: This chapter has a pretty bad ending since I have a roaring, pounding, insanity-inducing headache right now (staring at the screen probably isn't the best thing to do right now. Linkin Park doesn't help, either.) The last part of the chapter was the result of wandering into the realm of LoTR, HP, and Chinese DC fics. Since I was working on The Quandary as well, Chapter 9 will probably end up a huge(r) sapfest. That's so not me; lack of sleep, sugar, and caffeine make you do crazy things.

In Vino Veritas
PyroKid
13.07.04 (started)

Mitsushiko interrupted Ayumi's question with a tap. "Hey, guess what? Electricity's back." He pressed the speakerphone button before handing the phone to Conan, who reluctantly dialed a fairly long string of numbers. A ringing sounded from within the room, and Ayumi's hand flew to her cell phone eagerly. She brought it out and pressed the 'talk' button, putting the phone to her ear, but heard nothing. Confused, she looked around as the ringing continued.

Ai had been staring outside the window in a bored mood, wishing for the game to end, but was jolted back to reality as her cell phone began to ring. Slowly, she reached into her pocket and looked at the screen, which read 'Tsuburaya Household'. Eyes wide in shock, she stared at Conan, phone still in her grip. Conan couldn't hold back a smile at the confused and innocent look on her face as she stared at him questioningly. He motioned for her to answer her phone. Slowly, without breaking eye contact, she pressed the talk button and held the phone to her ear.

"Hey, Ai. I... I like you. I've never said anything because, well, we live together, and it'd be kind of weird if we dated at the same time. You want to go out sometime?"

"I'd like that." Haibara replied, still searching the depths of his eyes, trying to determine whether this was another attempt to placate the Detective Boys.

"So, uh... I'll talk to you later?" A nod was the only answer he received.

The game continued:

"Ayumi, what's your favorite hobby?"

"Training to be a part of the police force." Ayumi clearly misunderstood the meaning of the complex word 'hobby'.

"Haibara, do you like Conan?"

Ai's face remained impassive. "Pass me a shot."

"You drank last time," Ayumi pointed out gleefully.

"Does it even matter? Doesn't her avoidance of the question answer it anyways?" Mitsushiko pointed out.

I have a bad feeling about this stupid rule... "Fine, I do."

The Detective Boys turned to each other in a huddle.

"Huh... they're just pretending to like each other to avoid giving us the real names... it's all preplanned!"

"You know," Mitsushiko began, turning back to Conan and Ai. "Since you guys are just lying, a pointer for the future: unrequited love is much more realistic and believable." he finished before turning back to Genta and Ayumi.

"There's no way to prove that they're not telling the truth, so we can't punish them by making them drink... I know! Let's dare them to do stuff you really wouldn't want to do to anyone unless you like them." Ayumi declared, intent on punishing Conan for trying to hide his feelings for her.

"Haha... that really sucks to be them, then. Y'know, since we're all gaining up on them," he elaborated, seeing the confused look on Genta's face.

"Genta, I dare you to fast for one day," Ai announced after the huddle. They're clearly trying to give us a hard time... might as well put out some interesting questions and dares.

"Mitsushiko, what was the first drink you had?" Genta asked after he had calmed down over his dare.

"It was a beer. Conan, go sit with Haibara and hold her hand."

"I can't just grab her hand without permission... just in case you haven't noticed, it's a two-person thing." Conan complained, refusing to complete the dare.

Mitsushiko sighed and passed him another shot, but was inwardly pleased; if Conan refused to do even this, there were some interesting things in store for him.

"What's your greatest fear?" Conan asked Ayumi after drinking the shot. Tell us... and I'll find some way to use that against you, you conniving little weasel.

"Rejection." Ayumi said brusquely. "Haibara, I dare you to go sit in Conan's lap."

"You know I'm not going to." Ai sent Ayumi a withering look; she was sick of the Detective Boys and their retarded games. "Conan, what's 3 cubed?" she asked after drinking the shot.

"27. Mitsushiko, tell us who you like." Conan said after spinning the bottle.

"Um... I... uh..." Mitsushiko stuttered uncertainly. "G-Genta, what's 2 plus 1?" Mitsushiko managed to cough out after downing his shot.

"I... uh... That's not fair! We're on a team! You can't ask me hard questions like that! I mean... that's against the rules!" Genta complained as Ayumi passed him a shot.

Wow, this is some retarded kid, Ai thought to herself contemptuously, aware that Conan was probably thinking the exact same. Enjoy your drink.

"Conan, go kiss Haibara." he burst out gleefully after spinning the bottle and hearing Conan's response.

Conan turned red as he looked at Ai. Damn it, why did I drink last round? He mentally cursed himself before rising reluctantly and approaching the red haired girl. "Sorry," he muttered before taking her hand and pressing it to his lips. Damn that stupid fat Genta! I'll... Conan's mood lifted when he heard Mitsushiko pick dare, and his face lit up. "Mitsushiko, get on one knee and propose to Genta," he dared in an eerily calm voice that somehow managed to convey his anger, radiating an aura of iciness mixed with a hint of smug satisfaction. Mess with me and you'll be sorry, you slimy little brats.

"I... what? NO! That's sick. Conan Edogawa, what the-why-you..." Mitsushiko spluttered in rage. "Stop acting like an immature kid and-"

"It's not like any of this requires physical contact of any sort. You drank last time. Do it." Conan replied coldly.

Grudgingly, Mitsushiko rose and approached Genta. Five feet away, he knelt and muttered, "Gentawillyoumarryme." It was more like a statement, and definitely had the 'I'm just doing this because I'm being forced to' sound to it.

"Uh, ok," Genta answered stupidly. "But only if you'll make a different eel dish for me every day."

"You idiot, that was only because of the dare," Mitsushiko hissed in disgust before spinning the bottle. "Ayumi, truth or dare? Who do you hate the most?" he asked, without waiting for Ayumi's answer.

"Uh... my math teacher. She keeps on giving me F's and saying that 2 times 1 isn't 5," Ayumi answered after a moment of thinking. "Conan, I dare you to drink five shots."

"Mitsushiko, whuat's yurr daaarkest secret?" Conan slurred after completing his dare and finally managing to spin the bottle successfully.

Great... that means I can decide which one of the 'darkest' to tell. "I... I smoked some MJ a few times," he spun the bottle and looked up. "Haibara, go snog Conan," he dared.

Ai spun to face him, fury raging in the depths of her eyes. "That's unsanitary. I refuse."

"Sorry, you drank last time." Mitsushiko pointed out, savoring his revenge on Conan, which was just part of his twisted thinking, since he was the one who provoked Conan and Ai first.

Managing to keep her face calm, Ai stood and deliberately walked towards the door, ignoring the movements of the Detective Boys to block her path. "Don't make me hurt you for the sake of a game," she warned, the turbulent sea of her eyes roaring.

Knowing they stood no chance against Ai in a fair fight, Ayumi shaped her face into a stricken expression, and called out, "Conan... Conan, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

Without giving it another thought, Haibara turned to look at Conan. In the same instant, all three Detective Boys rushed her. Spinning back around, Ai swung her leg out in a sweep, tripping Ayumi, flipping Mitsushiko as she stood, and throwing a punch to Genta. Unfortunately, Genta just absorbed the punch as if he hadn't felt it, and grabbed Ai, throwing her into the closet. Just as she sat up from the undignified position of being sprawled on the closet floor, Conan came flying in.

"You smell nice," Conan said, giggling.

Ai raised an eyebrow. A drunken Kudo is rather interesting. "Really," she commented, regarding the drunken boy before her. For the first time, she paused to consider their positions, and was horrified to realize that Conan was actually sprawled over her. What the- she unleashed a torrent of curses, mostly directed towards the Detective Boys. In the end, she actually spoke some out loud, screaming past the physical barrier of the wooden door to ensure that they were aware of her displeasure. "Kudo, get the hell off me!" she continued in a lower voice, pushing Conan away.

"Why? Don't you like sitting beside me?" Conan asked.

"'Beside'? 'Beside' is fine. I do have a problem with 'under', though. We're stuck together in a dark closet, you're half-drunk, Shinichi. I don't want to... accidentally brush anything."

If the light was on, or Conan was actually sober, he would have been able to detect a trace of embarrassment in Haibara's voice.

"But... I... I can't move. It's too cramped."

What the hell? This damn closet is like a bloody death trap! "Don't move, then."

Conan struggled to sit upright.

"Hey, watch the hands, okay?" Ai said, resigning to the fact that Conan was not going to sit still and 'not move'.

"Relax. I'm just trying to sit up. But hey, you know, if you hold my hands, they won't accidentally touch...anything."

"Shinichi, you are the most disturbed and suggestive drunk I've ever met. ...aside from myself, of course, but it's a piece of work to get me drunk." Ai would not normally tell anyone these things, but a drunk retains memories like a sieve holds water. She took hold of his hands anyways, to prevent unwanted future physical contact.

Grinning, Conan sat up, but didn't loosen his grip on Ai's hands and instead began rubbing his thumb across the back of her hand.

Ai let out a startled gasp. "Shinichi..." she began uncertainly.

"Shh..." Conan interrupted, putting his fingers over her lips. "Don't speak." He moved his hand up, tracing her cheek and slipping his fingers into the silken strands of her strawberry-blond hair. "Ai... Ai," he murmured, "I lied. I lied to you earlier. I don't like you. I love you."

Reflecting back on the moment, Conan had no idea what prompted his next move; maybe it was the confusion surfaced in her eyes that tore away the cold mask she donned, or maybe it was the fact that he had breached the unscalable walls she had built around herself to see the unconfident, vulnerable Ai Haibara. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. Shocked, Ai parted her lips to question him, but froze when Conan's tongue slipped into her mouth. Indescribable warmth flooded her senses, washing away all reason and leaving her breathless. Slowly, the tension drifted away and she relaxed as she began drinking in his intoxicating taste, drowning in it, losing herself. Conan slipped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer, but she pushed away gently, stepping back until she felt the wall of the closet against her back.

"Wait... There's something I've kept bottled up inside of me for so long that I'll explode if I don't tell you, but I've never gotten around to it. Since you're not going to remember any of this, I guess this would be the ideal time to tell you... The first time I set eyes on you, a warm, fuzzy feeling enveloped my system, and has only intensified since then; when I spoke to you and became familiar with your personality, I found your intelligence mesmerizing, your sarcasm a source of endless amusement, your stubborn sense of righteousness admirable, and your soccer skills breathtaking. Then there was the fact that you just seem to glow with this reassuring aura that enfolds me, making everything seem better whether it's a brush with Death or just a bad day. I mean - what-what I'm trying to say is that I... I just... I..." For the first time, Ai found herself unable to express herself; her mouth was parched, throat scratchy, her breathing became shallow, pulse quickened. She became flustered, probably due to Conan's sudden and extreme proximity. "I-I love you," she blurted out. "I really do, but you're, uh... you're drunk, and probably have no idea what you just said, what you just did, what you're... what you're doing," she faltered, looking up curiously as Conan placed his hands on her shoulders. "and I don't-" she was cut off as Conan leaned down and covered her mouth with his. A surge of emotions coursed through her: shock, indignation, embarrassment, and sadness, but a sense of ecstasy crashed through the dam of reason, pouring into the networks of her mind, body, and soul, compelling her, forcing her not to push away. A while later, a thought streaked through the clouded mists fogging her mind, breaking the trance and allowing a ray of reason to stream into her mind. Shinichi... doesn't taste drunk. At all.

A/N: From the reviews, I've gathered that some people understand what I tried to do with the ending line. Like Memento Mori, this ends on a note of humor because Conan/Shinichi isn't really drunk, but the entire fic up 'til the last line makes you think he is.