Hi everyone! So finally (after a long time), here's the 11th chapter. Starting from this chapter, I won't specify the time gap between a chapter and another one anymore, it was provoking a headache to me to calculate it every time. But don't worry, it won't be essential to know how much time will exactly have elapsed, and I'll leave hints about their age and everything else. That said, have a good read!
Grocery Store, 7:30 pm.
"Ngh..."
Ai struggled while standing on tiptoes to grab an object from a high shelf, her arm had reached its maximum extension and, for a matter of three or two centimeters, her slender fingers missed the item.
"Damn it."
Surrendering to the fact that she was too short for that, she examined the possibilities. She could ask for some employee to take it for her, so she turned her head around but didn't find anyone. There weren't other customers in that aisle; after all, the store was about to close in half an hour. Using a stool or something like that to get on it wouldn't be much decorous and wouldn't suit her. There was only one painful solution left.
She sighed.
"Conan, come here and give me a hand."
"Here I am!"
Conan enthusiastically walked closer to her with his usual boyish grin on.
"What do you need?"
She pointed up to the needed item, "See if you can take that."
"Okay.", he also had to stand on tiptoes, still, his hand reached the packet of rice she had tried in vain to take. He handed it to her, "Here."
She grabbed it from his hand and put it into the shopping cart, avoiding his knowing smirk and his narrowed eyes. He giggled.
She had to return the fire, "If you don't stop with that creepy expression I'm gonna make some modifications to your face... what do you think about a red handprint?"
"Who's the tallest one now?", he rhetorically asked, inching closer to highlight the evidence.
She glared at him, "Shut up."
"You can deny as long as you want... but remember that there's only one truth."
She didn't give up, "Yes, there's only one truth. And that truth is that you're a complete idiot."
Although she seemed determined not to let him win easily, he knew he had the upper hand this time.
She exploited his silence to strike another blow, "And then, you're boasting like you were two meters higher than me when it's a matter of not even five centimeters."
"For now, but I'm only fifteen, the more I'll grow, the more the difference will increase.", he remarked.
"You're forgetting that I'll grow up as well. And I could even decide to create a poison to block your height growth."
He brought his face closer so that his breath tickled her face, "You'll be so short comparing to me that you'll have to stand on tiptoes to kiss me."
She crossed her arms and withdrew her gaze away from his, shutting her eyes, "Fine, then it won't be worth it anymore, I'll just stop doing that."
"You love it too much to stop."
"Don't test me."
He giggled, "And you don't play hard."
He held her face and planted a big kiss on her cheek. Luckily for them, Ai had a good ear and heard the sound of another shopping cart followed by steps coming closer, so she rapidly pulled away and established some distance between her and Conan, who understood her and also turned to the shelf, feigning to be searching for something.
The thing they didn't expect was the identity of the approaching person.
"Aunt Eri?"
"Huh? Conan-kun?"
Ai turned her face to Eri without speaking.
Conan smiled, "Hi! Long time no see."
Eri smiled back, still holding her cart, "It is true, how are you?"
"Fine, thanks, I'm helping Ai– I mean Haibara with grocery shopping.", he explained, pointing back to Ai with his thumb.
Ai greeted Eri with a small hand waving, "Hello, Kisaki-sensei."
"Hi, Ai-chan."
"How is uncle Kogoro?", Conan asked innocently.
Eri's eyebrows twitched at the mention of her husband, "Don't talk about him, it's that chump's fault if I had to come here at the last moment. I had requested him to do the shopping because I had some important business to attend to at my office, but when I returned home he said he had forgotten about that! As if he had something useful to do during all the day!"
It was about 3 years ago when Eri moved back to the detective agency. A few months after Ran's wedding — and also Conan's comeback to his own house — Kogoro was in total despair, he was left living alone, only eating pre-cooked food, losing client after client because of his sudden 'efficiency reduction' (since Conan wasn't behind him anymore), spending more and more money into gambling and beer — everything was a mess.
Desperation set aside his pride, so he decided — it was his only hope to survive — to ask Eri on his knees to come back with him. After a substantial amount of prayers, Eri — mostly because of pity — accepted, but only with hard conditions, which consisted of Kogoro stopping getting drunk, playing gambling and placing bets on horse racing, and looking at other women/girls (including Yoko Okino, that was the hardest condition).
Although sometimes he didn't resist the temptation of drinking too much, Eri secretly appreciated his hard efforts. His job changed a little, now his clients were angry and suspicious people who asked him to investigate their partner's life to discover a possible secret lover, so basically he had to stalk people and take pictures to prove the evidence.
"If he dares to criticize my cooking skills even tonight, I swear that I'll leave him again!"
Conan laughed nervously and scratched his nape, the woman wasn't in a good mood. He looked back at Ai, she was still picking things from the shelf, but her eyebrows were furrowed too, maybe she was empathazing with Eri.
The lawyer took a deep sigh to calm herself, "Stop, I need to stop talking about that little– Oi!"
Someone abruptly bumped into Eri's back, "Watch out the next time– What?! You?! What the hell are you doing here?!"
The person was none other than her precious husband, "What am I doing here?! It was you who ordered me to do the grocery shopping if I remember well."
Eri's temples were pulsating, her face was burning from nervousness, "When I came back home half an hour ago you told me you had forgotten about that, and seen that you're slow as a turtle–"
"Slow as a turtle!? You old woman––"
"–You're an idiot– ME AN OLD WOMAN?!–"
"–YOU DON'T DO ANYTHING BUT WHINING–"
"–THIS OLD WOMAN IS GONNA TEACH YOU A LESSON–"
"–FOR ONCE CLOSE THAT DARN MOUTH, YOU–"
"–IF YOU CARED ABOUT YOUR HEALTH YOU SHOULDN'T TEST ME–"
While the two adults continued to argue and yell at each other, Ai neared Conan and said something in a low and exasperated voice, "Promise me that we'll never be like them."
He snickered, so she was afraid that they could become a heavy-arguing couple, eh? The thought amused him. Making sure that Kogoro and Eri were too busy with their fight to pay attention at them, he gave her a quick peck on the cheek.
He winked at her, "Let's hope not."
Meanwhile, the war went on.
"–I'M STILL YOUNG ENOUGH TO KNOCK YOU OUT–"
"–I CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING BIGGER THAN YOUR TONGUE–"
"–OUT OF ALL THE IMBECILES IN THIS WORLD–"
"–INSTEAD OF THANKING ME FOR WANTING TO HELP YOU–"
"Is everything okay here?"
Eri and Kogoro diverted their attention to the employee that had just popped out in the aisle, the young man seemed fearful for having heard all those outcries.
"Don't worry, we're just having a small discussion.", Eri reassured.
'Call it 'small'... they were almost at the point of cutting each others' throat', Conan thought as he let out a small ironic laugh.
"Alright... by the way, we're closing in fifteen minutes.", the employee reported and went back to what he was doing.
The tension diminished a bit as both the two adults ceased fire, hopefully for the rest of the day. That finally gave to Kogoro the opportunity to notice the two teens' presence.
"Oh... look who's here... the four-eyed brat and his girlfriend."
With arms crossed, Ai immediately corrected him, "I'm not his girlfriend."
Conan shivered at the seriousness of his wife's voice, 'Wow... she's good at feigning...'. Still, he flushed at Kogoro's assertion.
"Hi, uncle!"
Eri glanced at her watch, "It's late... maybe it'd be better to eat at a restaurant."
"For once I agree with you... and then I'm not in the mood to taste your cooking."
"DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK ILL OF MY COOKING!"
"WELL, MY STOMACH–"
Conan interrupted them to prevent a bloody development of the fight, "Maybe we all should hurry up and go to pay, the shop is closing."
Eri sighed and agreed with him, "Alright...". She thought about the upcoming dinner, it was gonna be the usual boring and irritating part of the day, she didn't feel like spending time alone with Kogoro and consequently having to argue. She made an offer, "While we're at it... Conan-kun, Ai-chan, why don't you join us for dinner?"
The two teens got taken by surprise, especially Ai. They peeked at each other confusingly while Kogoro just pouted.
"Well..."
"Hakase is out until tomorrow for a convention so..."
"Yeah... why not?"
At the restaurant, 8:30 pm.
"Your order will be ready in twenty minutes. In the meantime, would you like something to drink?"
Eri steadfastly responded, giving a slight glare at Kogoro from the corner of her eyes, "Just smooth water for us, thanks."
"And you two? Would you like to have any fizzy drinks?"
Conan was about to answer, "I–"
"Just smooth water for us too, thanks."
"Alright.", and with that, the waiter left the table for four.
Conan scowled at Ai, "Why did you have to decide for both of us?"
"Carbonated beverages are dangerous for health, they increase risks like obesity, diabetes, kidney stones, caries–"
Conan wrapped his hand around hers to block her fingers from counting more, "Okay okay, got the message, we don't need the full list."
She snorted and abruptly withdrew her hand from his clasp.
"So, Conan-kun–", Eri began, placing her elbows on the table and intertwining her hands to rest her chin on, "Lately I've been reading a few articles about the last cases you've solved, you're already becoming quite popular here in Tokyo."
"There's no more famous detective than the Great Detective Kogoro–"
Eri silenced her self-absorbed husband, "You shut up, none does even care about you anymore. You lost your touch when Ran went to live with her husband, now you're on a par with any paparazzo."
Kogoro sulked and crossed his arms without even trying to debate, having no valid arguments to use.
Conan laughed awkwardly and run a hand through his hair, he tried to make Kogoro feel a bit better, "Well... however... the experience I accumulated by watching uncle solving cases has helped me."
And, of course, Kogoro demonstrated his gratitude with a bitter remark, "That's evident... otherwise there would be no way for a brat to get even a hundredth of my talent."
One of Conan's eyebrow twitched, yet he was trying to keep a smile on. He found it even harder when he heard the girl beside him — who was supposed to be on his side, right? — chuckling soundly. He glared at her, mumbling something so low that it couldn't be heard by anyone.
"By the way–", Eri continued, her tone becoming a bit more warning, "Be careful, popularity isn't always a good thing, some people tend to become swollen-headed when they reach the pinnacle of success."
"What's that supposed to mean?", Kogoro questioned, Eri had unknowingly — or knowingly? — triggered him.
"Just that fame can be intoxicating, don't you agree, Edogawa-kun?"
"Of course, Haibara..."
Eri smiled, "Anyway, Conan-kun doesn't seem to be growing cocky and full of himself... unlike that detective Ran was once smitten with."
Ai covered her mouth with the upper part of her fingers and did her best to suppress a laugh, although her shoulders were shaking intermittently. And just to rub it in and see him flustered, she spoke, "If I'm not mistaken–", she copper her chin feigning thoughtfulness, "His name was... how was it–", she accompanied her words with a couple of snaps of fingers, "Oh, Kudo Shinichi. Am I right, Edogawa-kun?"
Conan was gonna strangle her once they would get back home, it was being really hard for him not to appear mad and furious in front of the smirk of the strawberry blonde.
"Yes, Ai-chan. Even though it's been years since none talks about him anymore, Ran only told me he went to live abroad."
"Now that you're making me think about that–", Kogoro began, "About two years ago, Megure-keibu told me that he had met him in a restaurant here in Tokyo, they solved a case together, although he said that he was soon gonna leave Japan again."
"Really? You've never told me about that before."
Kogoro nodded before adding the last particular, "Moreover, he was in the company of a woman. Apparently, that detective got himself a wife."
Eri raised an eyebrow, "Seriously? It's weird, he must've changed then. From what I remember of him, he was not a bad person but... I had always thought that it would be hard for a woman to spend her entire life with someone like him..."
Ai sighed and drove her fingers through some strands of her hair, "She must be a very patient woman..."
Blood was rushing to Conan's brain, his teeth and jaw clenching, 'No, she's not.'
"Being married to a detective isn't easy.", Eri added, getting an offended scowl from Kogoro.
"Holy words..."
It was at that moment that Conan's mind started to formulate a defensive answer, the chemist was challenging him too much, and he knew she was fully aware of what affects her actions were having on him.
Kogoro suddenly spoke in a low pitch, "As if for a detective it's easy to be married to a woman like the two of you."
'Thank heaven', Conan released the breath he was holding, finding some relief. For once, Kogoro said something he agreed with.
Eri scolded at Kogoro, "Really? It's weird that you are saying that, it's been a long time since you no longer behave like a husband."
Kogoro was about to debate but luckily the waiter arrived with two glass water bottles, placing them on the center of the table, "Here you go."
Ai took advantage of the distraction to slip a hand under the table to hold Conan's and interweave her fingers with his. He watched her bewildered as she playfully snickered at his face — and also at his previous pouts, he took that for granted. He sulked once again and looked away, trying to hide the tiny redness on his face. She was such a deceiver, one moment she was indirectly complaining about him, and the moment right after she was sweetly holding his hand — probably just for the fun of seeing him confused and flustered.
"Thanks.", Eri greeted the waiter.
"Your dinner is almost ready.", the waiter informed and left them.
Eri gazed disapprovingly at Kogoro as he was suddenly staring at someone — a woman in her early thirties sitting at the table behind Conan and Ai.
"Who're you looking at?", she asked accusingly.
"Isn't that woman... my client's wife?"
Conan and Ai also rolled their heads back to take a look at the woman. Fascinating, presumably rich, long and blond hair, captivating eyes, red and revealing dress... a classic attractive woman.
"And the man she's having dinner with is not my client...", Kogoro muttered.
"Who's your client?", Eri asked.
The two fake teens also turned back to Eri and Kogoro.
"A prominent politician...", he whispered, half-covering his mouth with his hand.
"But you've got no proof that that man is her lover.", Eri whispered back, also half-covering her mouth.
"It's obvious that he's her lover.", Conan murmured.
"Huh?", Eri and Kogoro raised an eyebrow.
"How—"
Ai cut them off, "She's not wearing her wedding ring, is this what makes you think so, Edogawa-kun?"
Conan smirked, "Exactly, Haibara."
"Right...", Eri agreed, "Plus, it doesn't take a genius to see that she's flirting with him..."
Kogoro picked up his smartphone, "I should take a picture of them and send it to my client..."
"There's no place where you can lurk without being noticed.", Eri remarked.
"Do you have a better idea then, woman?"
Eri grabbed the smartphone from his hand, "Watch and learn, idiot.", she leaned towards Conan and Ai and whispered, "I need your collaboration, just play along, okay?"
They shared a quick look and replied with a nod. Ai was a bit concerned, whatever idea Eri had in her mind, it probably wasn't going to be favorable for the two of them.
"Come on, strike a pose, I want to take a picture of you two.", Eri exhorted, her attitude changing to a more cheerful and enthusiastic one.
Both Conan and Ai blushed, their eyes widening.
"W-what?", Conan stuttered.
"You make such a cute couple! I want to take a photo of you!", Eri winked at them. Apparently, she intended to exploit the fact that the true objectives of the photo were sitting at the table behind them.
Conan was sure that this decent acting ability was the result of Eri's friendship with his mother, 'All because of mom and her influence...'
"So?", Ai whispered at him, her face was clearly telling it's not a good idea.
"It's just pretending.", Conan reassured.
"Mmm... okay...", they moved closer to each other so that their sides brushed together, his blue hoodie against her grey sweater. He brought an arm around her back, settling his hand on her hip.
Being them in public, it was better to reprimand him, and she made sure that Eri and Kogoro heard her, "Keep your hands to yourself, pervert."
And he took the opportunity to tease her with a smirk and an eyes' narrowing, "Don't be shy, we have to be credible."
"Don't push your luck...", she grabbed his hand to wrap it on her shoulder instead, a good compromise.
Eri was ready to take the photo, but there was a little inconvenience: in the frame, Ai's head partly covered the view of the couple behind her.
"Ai-chan–", Eri whispered, moving her head a bit aside from the mobile so she could look at Ai in the eyes, "If you could– uhm– let's see– just put your head on Conan-kun's shoulder, please."
Instantly, anxiety and worry flooded the strawberry blonde. As long as it was just a picture with his arm around her shoulder, it could be interpreted as a friendly gesture, but what she'd just been asked could make anyone easily intend that they were a couple. And what if someone they knew was watching them right now?
And while she hesitated for a couple of moments before acknowledging that she had no choice and following Eri's instructions, Conan was completely careless about the chances of being discovered.
They were pretending to pretend, it was quite hilarious so that he couldn't help but smile.
CLICK!
"Perfect.", Eri proudly commented admiring her work before handing the phone to Kogoro, "Here's your proof."
"Tnk y'..."
"I haven't heard you, could you please repeat?"
"Just drop it."
Groans of nervousness passed through Eri's clenched teeth, the throbbing veins of her temples underlined the level of her remaining patience.
"Er... excuse us, ", Conan gingerly spoke, "Do you mind cutting the part of the photo portraying us? We don't–", he stumbled, blushing slightly, "I mean we're not– huh–"
Ai figured out that it would be better if she helped him or else he could say something he shouldn't, "What this dumb is trying to say is that someone could misunderstand things, and we don't like gossip."
"There's no need, my client will be the only one to see it.", Kogoro pointed out, he was just too lazy to pull out the mobile from his pocket again, search for the photo and modify it.
Conan reluctantly agreed, "Mmmm... Okay."
Ai would've insisted if she had more familiarity with Kogoro, but she hadn't.
The waiter soon brought them their dishes, the evening went on comfortably, more or less. Ai and Eri spent much time making disgusted expression at Kogoro's 'enthusiastic' binge, while Conan just silently enjoyed the food and the company.
Later, as the two teens exited Eri's car — she had offered to give them a ride home — and waved their goodbye to the problematic couple, everything seemed to be fine.
"Well, that was fun."
"Yeah, now help me to carry the groceries, or are you just leaving your wife doing all the heavy work?"
"Okay, okay..."
They did not even imagine what would happen soon.
2 days later...
Kudo Mansion, 6:50 am.
Bzzzzz... bzzzzz...
Groans of displeasure broke the silence in the bedroom as the couple got dragged out of the peaceful land of sleep at the hands of Ai's diabolical device.
"Who the hell texts messages at this hour?", she grumbled while forcing her eyelids open and turning towards her bedside table to grab the source of the vibrations.
"Mmmm... don't answer...", Conan pleaded as he shifted position to wrap his arms around her waist and pull her back closer to him.
"M'kay... just let me shut down the ringtone."
He loosened his grip and let her. Once it was done, she turned herself around and snuggled back into his warmth as she felt him slipping a hand under her nightdress to fondle her bare back.
Soft sighs substituted the previous groans.
Bzzzzz... bzzzzz...
And the groans were back thanks to Conan's phone.
"See who is it...", Ai suggested, going against her wishes as breaking their cuddly and comfy position was just so regrettable, "It may be important..."
"Damn it...", he took his smartphone and checked his messages.
"It's mom... WHAT!?"
Agasa residence, 7:10 am.
"Yeah, this sounds like a very bad situation, guys."
"There's no need to say it explicitly, Hakase.", a hopeless Ai commented. She was currently sitting at the kitchen counter, her elbows leaning on its surface and her face hidden in her hands, her nose springing forth between her fingers.
"Come on, Ai, don't put yourself down, we'll find a solution.", Conan reassured and patted her shoulder, he was sitting beside her.
Slowly, she lifted her face and threw him a wild look that made him flinch, "Maybe you need me to remind you how serious our status is", she was trying to stay calm, although her voice was trembling a bit, "The photo that Eri-san took two days ago, which she used to prove that that woman was cheating on her husband, showing us posing as a couple in the foreground, is viral on the Internet and has been published on the most important newspapers in Japan."
"You're overestimating the impairment, this happened because the husband of that woman is a famous politician, not certainly because of us, so most of the people won't mind us."
"Oh, really?", she grabbed her mobile and after a few taps, she showed him the screen, "Look at this Tokyo gossip magazine homepage, 'High school detective Edogawa Conan seems already taken'.", she retracted her phone before showing him something more, "Or this one, 'Teitan High School new celebrities: is there something between them?'"
"What–"
"Oh and it's not over, look here, 'Edogawa Conan & Haibara Ai: ten reasons why they make THE perfect couple'."
Conan did his best to restrain himself from bursting out laughing, although a suppressed grunt fled from his nose, "You have to admit that it's intriguing– Owww!"
"Only someone reckless as you would laugh in a moment like this.", she scolded after punching him on the head.
Massaging the bump through his hair, he grumbled, "You need to stop being violent like this."
"You don't understand–"
"You're exaggerating–"
"Sorry to interrupt you but–", Agasa spoke, trying to be helpful, "At this point, why don't you just say you're together? You're not kids anymore, and it's kinda normal for teenagers to have a boyfriend or a girlfriend."
Holding half of her visage in her palm and resting her elbow on the counter, Ai breathed out, "That's not the issue, Hakase..."
In order to keep a cool head, she took a sigh before continuing, "All of this is drawing too much unwanted attention, not to mention that when we'll arrive at school, everyone will be speaking about us and we'll be overwhelmed with a bunch of questions. And just to complete the scenario, Ayumi-chan still has a crush on this imbecile."
"Hey!", Conan protested.
"So–", the professor began, Ai's speech had convinced him, and he also knew how Ayumi wanted so much to be with Conan, "What are you going to do now?"
"Deny. It's our only option."
Conan didn't really feel like going on pretending not to be together, it had become more tiring all over the time, it felt like a burden to carry whenever they were in someone's company. He was just relieved that there were a few people who knew about their secret marriage and their double identities, people like his parents, Professor Agasa, his Osakan best friend, the whole Akai family, and then agents Sato and Takagi — the latter only knew about them being a couple.
Half an hour later...
In contrast to the mood of the young chemist, not even a cloud populated the sky, and the warm sun rays accompanied the two shrunken adults during their walk to school.
For some time now, the rest of their friends had stopped meeting them in the early morning at the professor's house and do the entire trek to school together. From that moment, Conan and Ai would sleep every night at Conan's house, so they could get a bit of privacy, and also to share a little moment of peace and free talk before meeting their friends on the way to school.
Anxious and preoccupied for what she already knew it was going to happen, Ai noticed that Conan had a wide grin on and his eyes fixed on his mobile's screen. Moreover, his brows were relaxed and his cheeks were colored with an adorable shade of light red.
Normally, this sight of him would make her blush too, but she had too many problems at this moment. Her curiousness didn't fade away though.
"What's so interesting to make you seem like a childish pimply teen who has just received a corny message from his crush?"
She didn't get any answer. He just chuckled without even deigning to look at her.
"So?"
He was too distracted to mind her.
"Let's see", she roughly seized his phone.
She was perplexed to see that he did not protest nor sulk at her, he just grinned more and put his hands in his pockets, looking at her, expectant to watch her reaction.
Concentrating on the screen, her eyebrows softened and her lids half-closed as she commented in a bored tone, "I can't believe it... you were reading this..."
The mischief emanated from Conan disturbed her, "I couldn't resist."
At that, she rolled her eyes, he was a lost cause. But while she was at it... why not reading?
She sighed.
"'Reason number one. Intellect. It's not a case if both Conan and Ai ended Middle-High School with the highest marks'. How the hell does this bunch of freaks know our marks in middle school?"
He simply shrugged his shoulders.
She went on, skipping to the next reason without finishing the first paragraph, her disinterest was evident from the way she was reading, "'Reason number two. Banters. The fact that the two often engage in long and hard squabbles proves that they have a strong interest projected towards each other. Moreover, they don't argue in that way with anyone else'. Maybe we should stop discussing in front of other people, it's clear that they misunderstand things."
"Yeah, you're ri– M–misunderstand???"
She raised a disapproving eyebrow at him.
"W–what do you mean 'misunderstand'??? I–It's not like what's written there is false."
"Really? Even when it says 'they have a strong interest projected towards each other'?"
"Of course it is! I–I mean– You–"
She put a finger on her nose, silencing him, "Shhhh, lower your voice, moron."
"You married me for god's sake! You obviously wouldn't have if you hadn't gotten a strong interest projected towards me!"
"If you remember, when I said that yes, I thought we were gonna die in a few minutes..."
Running out of backup retorts, he put on his offended-child look and whined.
Ai quickly scanned the rest of the article, skipping cheesy reasons like 'matching interests', 'trust', and 'telepathy'.
All of a sudden, her face turned from annoyed to horrified and shocked as she read the paragraph below the reason number ten.
"WHAT!? Now you've got to explain! You blockhead!"
Conan flinched at the girl's abrupt volcanic-style explosion, it felt like he had just switched from the children's channel to a screaming horror movie.
"W–What you're talking about?"
"READ."
She showed him the screen so close that she almost hit him in the face.
He mumbled the phrase her finger was pointing to, "'Reason number ten. Physical attraction'? What?! 'Conan has declared numerous times that Ai's sparkling lips—", his reading's speed gradually decreased, "—her long and slender legs, and her curvy shapes are his weak point that he can't help but desire.'"
He didn't add anything, and she scolded him as she caught a glimpse of his dreaming stare and heating cheeks, "Say something!"
He was still in trance, "Mhhhh... Yeah– No!– I mean– I've never spoken a word to anyone! I–I swear! T–They– They made that up!"
"Pervert."
Vigorously, she pushed the phone to his chest, his hands readily went to catch it, swiping over hers in doing so, and she had to struggle to have her hand back.
"Come on! It's not my fault, can you please not be mad at me?"
She coolly flipped back some strands of her hair, "I feel better when I'm mad at you, like I'm in peace with my conscience, it's a natural instinct."
Conan grew upset, "So I'm just supposed to stay quiet and take all your hits, huh?"
"That would be the idea, yes."
His hands turned into fists, "You little– Evil-eyed yawny girl."
They argued like that for a few more moments, Ai always being in the lead of the minor controversy. Once that the silence was restored, Conan came up with a question.
"Do you think that..."
Ai gave him a quizzing stare, seen that his previous childishness had been replaced by seriousness.
"Do I think what?"
"Do you think that the kids have already seen the photo? I mean... There's no guarantee that everyone has seen it."
"I wouldn't say that...", she took her phone and showed him the screen, "Look at this message Masumi sent me."
"Hm?", he saw that Masumi had sent her their photo and written something under it.
'You're famous, cousin!
So it's not a secret anymore I guess.
P.S. You and Conan-kun look soooo cute together!'
"How did your cousin who lives in England come across it?"
"Your mother also lives overseas and has someway found it before us, so it shouldn't shock you."
"It's different, I don't think that Masumi-chan also types my name on the Internet every single day. And by the way that's not a problem since she already knows our identities and the fact that we're secretly married."
"That's not the point.", she elucidated before adding a salty remark in a low voice, "You're so slow whenever there's not a case to solve..."
"Oh yeah? And then what's the point, Miss know-it-all?"
"If this news has someway been seen also by people from other countries, I'm sure that most of the people in Tokyo have found it somewhere."
Inevitably, he had to concur. He chose that moment for telling her what he had been thinking for a while now, maybe it was time to put an end to this story. Hoping that she would agree with him, his gaze became warmer.
"Listen...", he carefully began, "This whole thing has been going on for years. Maybe this could an opportunity to let everyone know that we're together, don't you think it's time for them to know?"
Her look stayed unaltered, he wasn't even sure whether she heard it or not. Holding his breath, he let a few seconds pass before speaking again.
"Ai?"
She ignored his call and focused on her phone, starting to type something.
He was worried, he wasn't expect a reaction like this, "What are you doing?"
What she replied puzzled him, "I'm searching for the telephone number of some otolaryngologist."
"Excuse me???"
"And yet I believed to have spoken loud enough for you to hear that this is a lousy idea.", she turned to him, a pissed-off expression marrying her face, "It must be you who occasionally become deaf, so it's better to consult an otolaryngologist, or do you prefer a neurolo–"
"Okay okay, that's enough... got the message."
"Good."
Still, Conan felt like trying to convince her, "However, it wouldn't cause many problems."
Ai groaned. Damn, he was tenacious, she had to say. She had to begin from the start again, hopefully for the last time.
"Everything would turn into a mess if we told everyone the truth."
The fact that she always paid more attention to the negative side frustrated him, "But why?!"
At that moment she had to hold herself from choking him, "I already told you! Can you imagine the chaos at school?! You know fully well that I hate being in the spotlight!"
"There were already several rumors about us even before this thing, and maybe admitting everything would make the others search for someone else to bother."
"That's not the main problem..."
Noticing the slackening of her brows in a melancholic inclination, what she was implying was obvious to him.
"You're talking about Ayumi, aren't you?"
She didn't like his tone, he was visibly downplaying the matter, and the face she made to him stated that she couldn't tolerate that.
Conan quickly explained himself to avoid a slap or something similar, "It's not that I'm insensible, but at some point she'll have to know that I don't return her feelings."
"Yeah...", she hung her head so that her bangs hid her eyes from his sight, "but seeing the one she likes liking someone else is even more painful than a simple rejection..."
The deepness of her voice expressed that she wasn't speaking on a whim.
He lowered his head too, trying to find her eyes.
She felt her heart clenching inside her ribs, this topic was bringing back sorrowful memories — memories in which her situation was similar to Ayumi's. And even back then, the fulcrum was always this idiotic detective walking alongside her.
"... Especially if that someone else matters to you... if she is like your sister..."
"Tell me what you're talking about now, will you?"
Wrong question.
Her shoulders tensed up, was he expecting her to say it explicitly? He should have known that she was referring to herself, when her love for him was still unrequited. His ingenuity was irritating her, but she didn't feel like continuing to think about this now, she had more important problems to solve now.
"Back off."
The time when they had to face their three friends came as they all met at the intersection.
Their reaction was much as they — especially Ai — expected.
Mitsuhiko and Genta had an intimidating, menacing pout — directed to Conan — plastered on their face, both of them with their arms crossed.
Between them, a pending and heartbreaking Ayumi, her hands closed on the dark green tie of her school uniform, and her hangdog and teary eyes — pointed on Ai — would've melted the entire South Pole.
"A–Ai-chan... i–is it true?"
Ayumi was having a hard time speaking, a breakdown of her tear glands was almost imminent.
Conan wanted to say something but Genta, backed by Mitsuhiko, used his large hands to grab him by his tie and his jacket, roughly drawing him closer and almost lifting him from the ground — Conan had always detested his bullying tendency.
Threateningly, Genta spoke, "Conan..."
Mitsuhiko also approached Conan's face, "You owe us an explanation."
"Oi! G–guys! I–I and Ai– we're not like that–"
Mitsuhiko was observant, "And since when have you been calling her by her first name?"
Genta sharply pulled Conan even closer, "Conan..."
"I am ashamed of you, guys.", Ai's elegant and rigorous voice interrupted them, catching everyone's focus.
Ayumi's eyes sprang wide towards her best friend.
Ai raised her head and closed her eyes, successfully feigning to look offended, "Thinking of me to have such a poor and cheap taste..."
Conan made a face...
Ayumi's eyes got filled with hope, "S–so you and Conan-kun are not..."
Ai started to head towards the school, showing off all her confidence, "If ever he was the last man left on the Earth, I'd rather killing him than falling for him."
Conan's frown deepened... 'I need her to stop spending time with mom...'
Everyone was still gaping at her — well, glaring, in Conan's case — when she, with a loud but sophisticated voice, concluded, "Come on, let's go. There's a group of gossipy girls I have to teach a lesson..."
Genta released Conan, who let out a sharp and rigid breath, but not before making a recommendation, "If you try to hurt Ayumi I'll make you pay for that, Conan."
"There was no need to be violent, Genta..."
Beika Street, after school...
"It went well, overall."
"We've got two different concepts of the word 'well'."
"Look at the bright side, at least Ayumi-chan doesn't know anything, just as you wanted."
Ai scoffed, "Apart from that, everything was a wrench, more than half of the school thinks that we're together."
Thing that did not annoy Conan, he was quite delighted of that, differently from Ai. He hoped that maybe that could reduce the number of fangirls he had — and most importantly, the number of persistent fanboys that would always try to flirt with her.
"It was funny though."
"Hm?"
"When you 'spoke' to those girls during the lunch break. 'The resources of gossip magazines'."
Another scoff, "They must learn that meddling in others' business will only bring trouble."
Conan repressed a laugh, "Yeah yeah, it was a very educational lesson. Especially when you threatened to put acid into their face powder and then expose their 'ugly faces' to the whole school. Very educational..."
A soft sigh of resignation was heard from her.
"And then the best part, 'Be careful when you talk about Haibara Ai'."
When he mimicked her voice, Ai couldn't help but glare at him, he had enjoyed this far too much.
"But you have to admit it, they would be excellent spies, maybe we should recommend them to Furuya-san—"
"Could you be serious for once in your worthless existence?"
"You should chill, you're gonna have a nervous breakdown at this rate..."
"Airhead..."
He fought the urge to roll his eyes. Instead, he opted for a nicer way to make her relax. His arm softly extended around her shoulders as his hand warmly squeezed her forearm.
Wrong choice.
Her reflex fleshed as she evaded from his hold and set a fiery glare against him.
"Are you nuts?! We've just barely managed to keep our secret safe and you–"
"Stop it."
She got goosebumps.
Authoritarian, bossy, determined, serious... she was searching for an appropriate adjective as she tried to process the way he'd pronounced those two words that had left her frozen on the spot. He stopped walking too and turned completely to her, affixing his oceanic eyes on hers.
She stared at him too, the way his lips were firmly pressed together, his eyebrows almost colliding, forming wrinkles at the beginning of his nose.
She half-managed to reset her previous glare and whispered, "We're drawing attention..."
True, a few people passing by there had been sneaking glances at them, not that he minimally cared though.
"Let's go home before getting suspic—"
He silenced her by using his hands to block her shoulder from turning. His stubbornness was upsetting her.
"Knucklehead! Do you want us to get discovered after so much effort?!"
He continued to stare at her without a word.
"At least have the decency to answer me!"
The grip he had on her shoulder strengthened, grinding her school uniform. She wasn't sure whether she was supposed to be just perplexed or mad; still, she kept her glare up.
"You want the truth?"
She stiffened.
"Do you know why am I acting along with you, hiding our relationship from everyone?"
Something didn't add up. Which other reason would he have apart from not complicating things and hurting Ayumi?
Maybe she had never considered that those could be only her reasons, not his.
"Because you told me so, because you said that everything would be more complicated, because you were worried for Ayumi-chan."
Her lips parted.
"If it was up to me, I would've announced it from the moment we got together, four years ago."
His eyes were candid, staring at the reflection of the descending sun into hers.
His hand moved to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear.
"With a stunning sunset like this, your hair turns golden, and it's hard not to caress it like this just because someone might see us."
As the edges of her eyes extended more and more; an adorable, reddish shade showed up on both sides of her face.
"When you blush like this–", his other hand went on her cheek, "It's hard not to hold your face just because someone might see us."
He took a short step to decrease their distance.
"And when I see your motherly smile when the kids do something that states that they're growing up–"
He leaned forward.
"It's hard not to do this–"
He closed the gap between them.
Following her instinct, she shut her eyes and released her soul into him, and with slow and amorous movements of her tongue, she told him that yes — it was hard as hell for her too — not kissing him like there was no tomorrow, not forgetting about everything and everyone around them, not fulfilling that fluttery sensation which reminded her that her heart only beat for him; just because someone might see them.
As they parted for breath, he knocked their foreheads together.
"I supported your decision not because I agreed with you, but because I didn't want you to feel bad... but now it's been a long time since we're carrying this weight, and I think it's time to get rid of it."
She looked down, the corners of her brows slightly curving down.
"I know that Ayumi-chan matters a lot to you... but it's because of that that she deserves to know... sooner or later, she'll have to know that she can't be with me because I'm already in love with you."
He watched as she meditated and painfully bit her lower lip. He was already grateful to her for considering his opinion.
After a substantial moment of musing, she made her point.
She closed her eyes.
"My fear...", she paused and glanced up at him, "... is that it would be too much for her to take... knowing that she can't be with the one she desires so much... and that he's already taken by me... I'm like a sister to her..."
"But as I said, it has to happen..."
"You can't understand... I don't think she's strong enough to handle that."
Bzzzz... Bzzzz...
Conan felt his phone vibrate through the pocket of his trousers. He took it and read a name on the screen.
Ran was calling.
'Wait... Ran? So that's what she– hell, I'm a complete idiot.'
And at that moment he finally comprehended that the situation was a sort of parallel with what she had experienced when her love for him was one-sided. Only this time, Ai had Ran's role, and Ayumi had Ai's.
Now the reason for her insistence was clear to him. She didn't want Ayumi to feel like her back then.
Suddenly, he felt so guilty for not understanding it earlier, she must have found it difficult to speak about that.
But now, the phone was still vibrating and Ai was looking at him with an expectant face, her eyes questioning him about his slowness to answer the call.
He pressed the green button.
"Hello?"
A loud and joyful voice broke out through the device, "Conan-kun!"
"Yo, R–Ran-neechan."
"How are you doing? It's been so long since I got to hear something from you!"
'Yeah... so long...', he thought, 'about one or two days ago...'
"I'm pretty fine here."
"I saw your photo on the net! Awww, my little brother is growing up so much! So you and Ai-chan are..."
Her knowing tone prompted him to blush. However, now he had to choose between his urge to admit the truth and her will to keep it secret. What should he do?
Glancing at Ai, who was hearing everything, he perceived her worry.
A sigh came from him.
"No, Ran-neechan. It was just a misconception, we're just best friends."
"That's such a shame, you'd make a great couple! Think about it, you two got so much affinity!"
"I'll give it a thought, thanks... but let's talk about you..."
While continuing to chat like that, Conan resumed his walk along with Ai. As they found themselves before Agasa's house's gate, the conversation reached its end.
"Okay, Ran-neechan... okay okay, I promise I'll think about that... bye, bye."
He hung up.
"Thank you..."
He jolted at the soft and sincere voice of Ai, who had in the meantime opened the gate.
Leading his arm around her shoulder and pulling her closer, he responded by pressing his lips on her temple.
She let herself be enveloped into his embrace and nestled her face in the crook of his neck, "... for understanding."
The words smashed into his core and brought back that familiar flicker that usually characterized his spirit whenever he was with her.
"And by the way..."
"Hm?", his senses awakened as he heard her tone becoming mocking and sarcastic, signaling that the significant moment had ended.
"You're becoming a charmer..."
"Why so?"
She quoted his previous words, "How was it? 'With a stunning sunset like this, your hair turns golden'. Very poetic..."
Not being sure if she was truly praising him — he suspected she just wanted to poke fun at him — he merely muttered, "Thanks, I guess... uhm... D–do you want a massage when we get inside?"
"My, my, why this sudden bounty?"
"I–it's been a tiring day and y–you know– I thought that maybe you'd be stressed and– and so–"
She giggled at his babbling, he was actually being kind of cute, "I think I'm gonna accept."
Agasa residence, 8:30 pm.
The massage had been reinvigorating, Ai would never think that her husband's hands could be so providential. He had managed to dissolve all of her stress.
While constantly switching channels to find some decent program to watch, she bumped into a random romance movie. Not that she did stop because she was interested in it, but because of some familiar lines spoken by one of the characters.
"With a stunning sunset like this, your hair turns golden, and it's hard not to caress it just like this..."
She straightened her posture on the couch and paid more attention.
"When you blush like this, it's hard not to hold your face..."
Her mood went through an escalation of irritation and annoyance.
"And when I see your motherly smile when our kids do something that states that they're growing up, it's hard not to do this–"
'That wretch...'
"KUDO SHINICHI-KUN!"
END OF THE CHAPTER
A.N.
Thanks for reading! Comments and reviews (and also votes, if you liked my story) are extremely appreciated, as always. See you for the next chapter!