Title: Second Best
Fandom: Detective Conan
Author: Amm (SoulSeeker)
Theme: #2—I'm willing to sacrifice anything, just for you
Pairing: Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Detective Conan—I just play 'Barbie' with them, because god knows they're a lot more fun than real Barbies.
Summary: He'd never seen Ran so worked up over a grade before…

Fourteen.

It was a quiet night at the Detective Agency; Mouri Kogoro was out on a case again, however, Ran had been forced to opt out of it this time.

Between studying for huge Chemistry test and dealing with new projects that got assigned, she didn't exactly have time to tag along anymore, as much as she enjoyed it. She had even set up a study time with Shinichi—she had sworn she wouldn't procrastinate on studying again—however he had blown it off.

And once that happened of course, the DVD of life had magically "skipped" to the night before the test; 11:25pm, to be exact, and putting it shortly: she was pretty much doomed.

Ran had the study packets; there were just so many questions, she didn't have the time. She sighed, spacing out to the vision of the phone in front of her.

The phone…how could the phone have helped her?

She could've called Shinichi, she supposed—he did have the same class and could probably help—however he was probably out on the same case her father was. And besides; she wanted to prove to herself that she could do this without his help for once. That she could earn a better grade than him on her own; that he wasn't better than her at absolutely everything.

She picked the receiver up in the end, and the numbers on the phone stared back at her. Might as well, she told herself; and sighed. The things I do when I'm desperate…

The phone rang again and again, and just when she was about to give up, he had picked up. "Ran?" he asked.

"Yeah, hey," she replied. "What took you so long?"

"Couldn't find the phone—sorry." Shinichi let out a sigh. "What's up? Wait let me guess…" Before Ran could even open her mouth to answer him, his ability to read Ran like an open book had kicked in. Sometimes, she hated that. "You've completely left off studying for our big Chem test tomorrow, and now you need help on the problems in the study packet?"

"I didn't put it off!" she argued in response to the teasing. "It was you who cancelled on our study session!"

The tantei just snickered. "So, what, you don't know how to study independently?"

Ran growled, absolutely resisting the urge to slam the phone on him right then and there and be done with it. Shinichi simply laughed, and things between them grew library-silent for a while as Ran tried to cool herself down.

"Look," Shinichi's voice of reason then chimed in, "it's a little late now, wouldn't you say? I think at this point it'd be best if you just got some sleep."

She remained quiet, grabbing her throbbing head in frustration. "I'm not tired," she replied curtly.

"You sound exhausted."

"You're wrong!"

Heavy breathing; silence. Shinichi raised an eyebrow slightly; he had never heard Ran get so angry over a simple grade before.

"Relax," he urged. "Jeez. You're so worked up…what's wrong?"

"Nothing! Nothing is wrong!" she exclaimed; which made Shinichi hold the phone away from his ear a little. "I'm just…"

Shinichi blinked, waiting patiently for the rest of her sentence, and he gave it a full minute and a half before he finally accepted the fact that she wasn't going to finish it. He didn't want to pressure her, and so he gave a few more moments of awkward silence before finally muttering… "You're just…what?"

"Tired…"

Of relying on him.

Of needing his help.

Of him always getting the higher score.

Of being second best…

Shinichi smirked slightly, amused at the fact that Ran had contradicted herself. Not knowing what to say, he kept quiet, not wanting to risk saying anything that would set her off.

"You wouldn't get it," she finally told him.

And she couldn't have been more right.

He listened to her breathe for a while, and she did the same; she imagined him, laying down on his comfortable couch in his living room, his chest rising and falling. He imagined her, walking around frantically as her heavy breathing suggested she was doing; and finally, he exhaled slowly, sighing. "You know…if it means so much to you, I…"

Ran's ears perked up, relieved that he finally said something to ease the tension between them, although she was still in a sour mood.

"You what?"

"…I can help you study. You know, help you in figuring out some of the study questions or something. I don't know."

Ran blinked for a minute, as if taking a moment to register what he was saying. She then rolled her eyes, managing a light "tch" before muttering softly, "Weren't you the one who just said I should get some sleep?"

Shinichi shrugged. "Well, you weren't planning on doing that anyway, were you?"

"No…"

"Exactly," he said matter-of-factly. "Then I might as well just help you out."

There was yet another pause. Ran wanted to object; she wanted to refuse his help outright, but the words got caught in her throat every time she went to talk. She had to find some reason—any reason at all to get out of it. She had to do this on her own. "But…what about you? You need sleep too…" she pointed out.

"Nah, it's all right. I'm willing to lose one night's sleep, if it's to help you—I can handle it. The main thing is if you're willing, but it's not a problem for me. After all, it's for a worthy cause."

Ran raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "A worthy cause?" she repeated. "Why? What do you stand to gain from helping me study? Credit, if I do happen to do well? Gloating privileges?"

Shinichi blinked "…I was thinking more along the lines of 'a happy friend who doesn't want to kill me,' but okay…"

And she fell silent yet again, guilt tugging and nibbling at her relentlessly. She had sounded so accusing, so aggressive that she was blinded from the sincerity that was so obvious in his intentions. It had almost felt like time had stopped, as she sat there wondering how to respond to him.

"Ran? Are you still there?"

She stared at the Chemistry packet, the questions staring back at her demanding an answer; most had been studied way too far back for her to remember, which she needed to review, and there were some topics she just simply never understood.

"Ran?"

A sigh escaped her lips. "Section One: Elements, Compounds, and Mixtures…"

Shinichi simply smirked upon hearing the words. "Wait, wait, wait. Let me go get my packet. Oh, and do me a favor, please?"

Ran narrowed her eyes. "What?"

She heard a dry chuckle over the phone, and she swore she could feel his evil smile. "Don't fall asleep," the tantei responded warningly. "It's going to be a long night…"

Shaking her head with a devil's smile of her own, she waited patiently for him to come back to the phone as she stared at the questions they were to tackle together; the ones that he was sacrificing his sleep to help her through.

Perhaps second best wasn't such a bad place to be after all.

A/N: Another relatively short one. Hmm—and it was pretty impromptu, too, lol. I was working on a completely different idea, and then this made its way out. Heh, go figure. :D Anyway, hope you enjoyed, for any of you still reading along. I'll be going to Thailand tomorrow, but I'll still be able to update—just not as often. I think it'll be nice to get away for a while.

Until next time, whenever that may be.